The credibility of The Link from the perspective of modern financial theory

Hong Kong’s Linked Exchange Rate System (LERS) has been in operation for twenty-five years during which time many other fixed exchange rate systems have succumbed to shocks and/or speculative attacks. This fact alone suggests that the LERS is a robust system which enjoys a large measure of credibility in financial markets. This paper intends to investigate whether this is indeed the case, and whether it has been the case throughout its 25-year history. In particular we will use the tools of modern finance to extract information from financial asset prices about market expectations that are related to the credibility of the LERS. The main focus is on how market participants ‘judged’ the various changes made to the LERS, such as the ‘seven technical measures’ introduced in September 1998 and the ‘three refinements’ made in May 2005. These changes have been characterizes as making the system less discretionary over time, and we hypothesize that they have also made it more credible as revealed in the prices of exchange rate related asset prices. We also investigate the relationship between interest rates and exchange rates in the current system in light of modern models of target-zone exchange rate systems. We will examine whether the intramarginal intervention in November 2007 changed the dynamic properties of the exchange rate as suggested by such models

The Costs of Implementing a Unilateral One-Sided Exchange Rate Target Zone

In the aftermath of the recent financial crisis, the central banks of small open economies such as the Czech National Bank and the Swiss National Bank (SNB) both implemented a unilateral one-sided exchange rate target zone vis-a-vis the euro currency to counteract deflationary pressures. Recently, the SNB abandoned its minimum exchange rate regime of CHF 1.20 per euro, arguing that after having analyzed the costs and benefits of this non-standard exchange rate policy measure, it was no longer sustainable. This paper proposes a model that allows central banks to estimate ex-ante the costs of implementing and maintaining a unilateral one-sided target zone and to monitor these costs during the period where it is enforced. The model also offers central banks a tool to identify the right timing for the discontinuation of a minimum exchange rate regime. An empirical application to the Swiss case shows the actual size of these costs and reveals that these costs would have been substantial without the abandonment of the minimum exchange rate regime, which accords with the official statements of the SNB

The Credibility of the Link from the Perspective of Modern Financial Theory

Hong Kong¡¯s Linked Exchange Rate system (LERS) has been in operation for 25 years during which time many other fixed exchange rate systems have succumbed to shocks and/or speculative attacks. This fact alone suggests that the LERS is a robust system which enjoys a large measure of credibility in financial markets. This paper intends to investigate whether this is indeed the case, and whether it has been the case throughout its 25-year history. In particular we will use the tools of modern finance to extract information from financial-asset prices about market expectations that are related to the credibility of the LERS. The main focus is on how market participants 'judged' the various changes made to the LERS, such as the 'seven technical measures' introduced in September 1998 and the 'three refinements' made in May 2005. These changes have been characterised as making the system less discretionary over time, and we hypothesise that they have also made it more credible as revealed in the prices of exchange rate-related asset prices. We also investigate the relationship between interest rates and exchange rates in the current system in light of modern models of target-zone exchange rate systems. We will examine whether the intra-marginal intervention in November 2007 changed the dynamic properties of the exchange rate as suggested by such models.Hong Kong dollar, Linked Exchange Rate system, target zone

Funding Liquidity Risk and Deviations from Interest-Rate Parity During the Financial Crisis of 2007-2009

Significant deviations from covered interest parity were observed during the financial crisis of 2007-2009. This paper finds that before the failure of Lehman Brothers the market-wide funding liquidity risk was the main determinant of these deviations in terms of the premiums on swap-implied US dollar interest rates for the euro, British pound, Hong Kong dollar, Japanese yen, Singapore dollar and Swiss Franc. This suggests that the deviations can be explained by the existence and nature of liquidity constraints. After the Lehman default, both counterparty risk and funding liquidity risk in the European economies were the significant determinants of the positive deviations, while the tightened liquidity condition in the US dollar was the main driving factor of the negative deviations in the Hong Kong, Japan and Singapore markets. Federal Reserve Swap lines with other central banks eased the liquidity pressure and reduced the positive deviations in the European economies.Sub-prime crisis, funding liquidity, covered interest parity, FX swaps