NEW QUESTION: 3
Mary Rolle and Betty Sims are portfolio managers for RS Global Investments, located in Toronto, Canada.
RS specializes in seeking undervalued stocks and bonds throughout the North American, Asian, and European markets. RS has clients throughout North America, however, the majority are Canadian institutional investors. RS has traditionally managed currency risk in their portfolios by assigning it to their portfolio managers. The manager is allowed discretion for hedging currency risk within the confines of the investor's investment policy statement.
Rolle and Sims are currently deciding whether to hedge the currency risk of a portfolio of Japanese stocks.
Rolle explores the possibility of using three different currency hedges. Each is an option contract on the yen-Canadian dollar exchange rate.

RS has a portfolio of European stocks and would like to change its equity risk. They can enter into futures contracts on the Eurostoxx index of large European stocks. The information below provides the characteristics of the futures contract and the portfolio.
Portfolio value in euros 2,000,000
Desired beta value 1.80
Current portfolio beta 0.60
Beta of futures contract 1.02
Value of one futures contract in euros 110,000
RS is also invested in British and Argentine stocks. RS has taken a position in two main sectors of the British economy. The first sector consists of manufacturers who derive a great deal of their business from exporting to the United States and Canada. The other sector consists of British service firms who are largely immune from international competition, because most of their business is localized and cannot be provided by foreign firms. The main investment in the Argentine stocks consists of firms who provide cellular phone service to Argentine consumers. Rolle and Sims discuss which currency positions RS should hedge.
RS occasionally invests in mortgage-backed securities sold in the United States. The growth in these securities has increased tremendously over the past three decades as firms have used securitization to remove the risk of these securities from their balance sheet. RS holds a mortgage security issued by CWC International. This mortgage security has a coupon rate higher than newly issued mortgage securities.
Sims discusses the return for this security when hedged with a short position in Treasury bond futures.
Rolle and Sims further discuss how to hedge the risk of mortgage securities. Rolle states that two Treasury bond futures contracts are typically used instead of just one. Sims states that a hedge becomes more important if the volatility of interest rates increases.
Which of following best describes the approach used by RS to manage currency risk?
A. Balanced Mandate.
B. Currency overlay.
C. Currency as a separate asset allocation.
Answer: A
Explanation:
Explanation/Reference:
Explanation:
RS Is using a balanced mandate approach. In a balanced mandate approach, the manager is allowed discretion for hedging currency risk within the guidelines of the investors investment policy statement. This approach manages currency risk as an integral part of the portfolio. It allows the manager to view the interaction between the risk of the asset and the currency. The currency overlay approach would assign the currency hedging process to another manager when the portfolio manager does not have the necessary hedging expertise. The overall process is still managed within the guidelines established by the investment policy statement. The currency as a separate asset allocation approach manages currency risk separate from the rest of the portfolio, such that the cash manager decides which currencies to hedge.
(Study Session 14, LOS 41 .i)