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30 July 2013
Exchange Rate Perspectives: FX and the Financial Transaction Tax
There are questions as to whether the FIT will be levied on the exchange of
collateral but at the moment there is no clear exemption. Given that many FX
transactions are regularly collateralized, in some cases with the exchange of
variation margin on a more than a daily basis, this could involve a substantial
increase in transaction costs. If the FIT was levied on initial margin, this would also
increase costs.
The FIT would dramatically increase current transaction costs for FX markets. In
research carried out for the Global FX Division of the Global Financial Markets
Association, Oliver Wyman estimated that the HT would result in price increases
of up to 1790% at the short end of the FX swap market (1 week EUNUSD swap)
and 270% at the long end (6 month EUR/USD swap).
These extremely large increases in transaction costs are the result of the very
small bid-offer spreads quoted by liquidity providers. In the most liquid FX swaps,
such as a 1 week BUR/USD swap, spreads are often lower than one tenth of a
basis point. The FIT would therefore introduce a permanent cost to transactions
magnitudes higher than is typical for these markets. Indeed, looking over average
transaction costs for FX swaps over recent years, the impact of the FTT can be
compared to the Lehman liquidity crisis in terms of its impact on transaction costs.
These costs would be magnified by the FX market's high turnover and deal
velocity. The BIS estimates the total daily turnover in the swaps and forwards
market alone to be USD 2.24 trillion, more than seven times that of all global equity
markets.
Much of this liquidity is concentrated in shorter tenors. According to the BIS, more
than 40% of global market turnover is concentrated in tenors of 1 week or less for
FX forwards. For FX swaps, this figure is 70%. FX swaps and forwards are rolled
over on a daily or weekly basis by a wide range of market participants in order to
meet a broad range of objectives. These include liquidity management, asset-
liability matching and short term funding. These transactions would be hit each
time by the tax. Additionally, the impact of the FTT on short-dated instruments is
much greater than on long-dated instruments.
Figure 2: The FTT Impact Similar to Global Financial Crisis on Transaction
Costs
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Page 10
Deutsche Bank Securities Inc.
CONFIDENTIAL - PURSUANT TO FED. R. CRIM. P. 6(e)
DB-SDNY-0104666
CONFIDENTIAL
SDNY_GM_00250850
EFTA01449315
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