Non Deliverable Forwards  are derivative contracts that allow parties to lock in a future exchange rate for a specific currency pair without physically exchanging the underlying currencies at maturity. In finance, a non-deliverable forward (NDF) is an outright forward or futures contract in which counterparties settle the difference between the contracted NDF price or rate and the prevailing spot price or rate on an agreed notional amount. NDFs are also known as forward contracts for differences (FCD).[1] NDFs are prevalent in some countries where forward https://www.xcritical.com/ FX trading has been banned by the government (usually as a means to prevent exchange rate volatility).

Resident vs. non-resident attributes

Understanding contract specifications and nuances across NDF providers is vital. Working with reputable banks and monitoring credit standing is key to risk management. The current ndfs meaning spot exchange rate and market forecasts of where the spot rate will be on the maturity date impact NDF levels. NDFs are primarily traded in over-the-counter markets between authorized financial institutions and large corporations. They are usually not traded on exchanges due to the non-standard nature of the contracts and the need for credit relationships between the counterparties.

Current and Expected Spot Rates

The structure of a Non Deliverable Forwards  contract involves an agreement between two parties to exchange a specific amount of one currency for another at a predetermined exchange rate on a future date. Their non-deliverable aspect sets NDFs apart, where no physical delivery of the currency occurs. Instead, the settlement is made in a widely traded currency like the US dollar (USD).

Understanding Non-Deliverable Forwards in Forex Trading

NDFs can be used to create a foreign currency loan in a currency, which may not be of interest to the lender. Deutsche Bank will pay BASF this settlement amount in EUR based on the NDF-spot differential. BASF enters a 90-day MXN/EUR NDF contract with Deutsche Bank to sell 300 million MXN at an NDF rate of 21 MXN per EUR.

If in one month the rate is 6.9, the yuan has increased in value relative to the U.S. dollar. If one party agrees to buy Chinese yuan (sell dollars), and the other agrees to buy U.S. dollars (sell yuan), then there is potential for a non-deliverable forward between the two parties. NDFs are distinct from deliverable forwards in that they trade outside the direct jurisdiction of the authorities of the corresponding currencies and their pricing need not be constrained by domestic interest rates.

The fixing date is the date at which the difference between the prevailing spot market rate and the agreed-upon rate is calculated. The settlement of an NDF is closer to that of a forward rate agreement (FRA) than to a traditional forward contract. They allow the administrator of a computer that runs a version of Windows that supports NTFS to set a threshold of disk space that users may use. It also allows administrators to keep track of how much disk space each user is using. An administrator may specify a certain level of disk space that a user may use before they receive a warning, and then deny access to the user once they hit their upper limit of space. Disk quotas do not take into account NTFS’s transparent file-compression, should this be enabled.

• NDFs are contracts for the difference between an agreed exchange rate and the actual spot rate at maturity, settled with a single payment for one counterparty’s profit.
• And the third is a controlled opening up of the FX market within a regime that retains effective capital controls.
• Other popular markets are Chilean peso, Columbian peso, Indonesian rupiah, Malaysian ringgit, Philippine peso, and New Taiwan dollar.
• NDFs traded offshore may not be subjected to the same regulations as onshore currency trading.
• For example, an American firm with subsidiary in India that earns revenues in rupees but reports in USD can hedge the EUR/INR risk by using NDFs.
• In early 2014, a series of financial sanctions on certain Russian individuals, defence firms, energy firms and banks were reported to have led non-financial firms to use NDFs rather than DFs (Becker (2014)).

Some countries, including South Korea, have limited but restricted onshore forward markets in addition to an active NDF market. Consequently, since NDF is a «non-cash», off-balance-sheet item and since the principal sums do not move, NDF bears much lower counter-party risk. NDFs are committed short-term instruments; both counterparties are committed and are obliged to honor the deal. Nevertheless, either counterparty can cancel an existing contract by entering into another offsetting deal at the prevailing market rate. However, the opaque OTC structure also poses risks around counterparty credit, liquidity constraints, and operational issues.

In the six currencies singled out by the Triennial, which account for two thirds of all NDFs, turnover increased at a faster pace, by 8.7%. Growth was much stronger in exchange rate-adjusted terms (30.9%, Table 1) than in current dollar terms, owing to depreciation against the dollar of the real, rupee and rouble. By contrast, the substantial decline in CNY NDFs and the rapid growth of KRW and Taiwan dollar (TWD) turnover owed little to movements against the US dollar. Apart from the six surveyed currency pairs, NDF markets are active in a number of other currencies. The DTCC data (see below) show that the Indonesian rupiah, Malaysian ringgit, and Chilean and Colombian pesos also have sizeable NDF trading. A non-deliverable forward (NDF) is a two-party currency derivatives contract to exchange cash flows between the NDF and prevailing spot rates.

As shown in the top panels of Table 2, offshore NDFs account for 29.5% of total forward trading, higher than the 21.1% share that would hold if the deliverable/non-deliverable split were the same onshore and offshore. Similarly, DFs trade disproportionately onshore.4 The lower six panels of Table 2 show that the strength of the relationship, though uniformly highly significant in statistical terms, varies across the six currency pairs. Segmentation is strongest in the rupee, for which NDFs do not trade onshore at all and DFs trade predominantly onshore, followed by the New Taiwan dollar, won, renminbi, real and rouble. In India, the sense that onshore markets had lost market share led the Ministry of Finance to commission a group of experts (Standing Council on International Competitiveness of the Indian Financial System (2015)).

It is mostly useful as a hedging tool in an emerging market where there is no facility for free trading or where conversion of underlying currency can take place only in terms of freely traded currency. Non-deliverable forwards (NDFs) are forward contracts that let you trade currencies that are not freely available in the spot market. They are popular for emerging market currencies, such as the Chinese yuan (CNY), Indian rupee (INR) or Brazilian real (BRL). Unlike regular forward contracts, NDFs do not require the delivery of the underlying currency at maturity. Instead, they are settled in cash based on the difference between the agreed NDF and spot rates.

One interpretation of the revival is that credit and legal concerns since 2014 have prolonged the life of the rouble NDF. In 2013, the concentration of liquidity in offshore markets (including the NDF) was ascribed to concerns about the enforceability of collateral arrangements in Russia (HSBC (2013)). In early 2014, a series of financial sanctions on certain Russian individuals, defence firms, energy firms and banks were reported to have led non-financial firms to use NDFs rather than DFs (Becker (2014)). The share of NDFs in RUB forward trades in London bottomed out in October 2014, and has since risen slightly in the three subsequent semiannual London surveys (Graph 4, left-hand panel). Reform allows us to assess NDF turnover spillovers from surprises like the adjustment in the renminbi exchange rate regime in August 2015.

This allows them to profit from currency fluctuations without the need for physical delivery of the currency. Other popular markets are Chilean peso, Columbian peso, Indonesian rupiah, Malaysian ringgit, Philippine peso, and New Taiwan dollar. The opaque OTC nature of NDF markets makes entering and exiting large positions more challenging. Competitive quoting from multiple NDF dealers leads to narrower pricing, while low liquidity results in wider bid-ask spreads. Ahead Software developed a «NTFSREAD» driver (version 1.200) for DR-DOS 7.0x between 2002 and 2004.

J.B. Maverick is an active trader, commodity futures broker, and stock market analyst 17+ years of experience, in addition to 10+ years of experience as a finance writer and book editor. Effectively, the borrower has a synthetic euro loan; the lender has a synthetic dollar loan; and the counterparty has an NDF contract with the lender. The base currency is usually the more liquid and more frequently traded currency (for example, US Dollar or Euros). It expects to receive 300 million Mexican pesos in 90 days from customer sales in Mexico.