indicatorForeign Exchange and Global Trade

Documentation to get you set up for hedging business FX risk

Before doing any foreign exchange hedging with ATB, a client must meet these four main requirements, explains Janek Guminski, senior director, head of foreign exchange at ATB.

By ATB Financial 16 October 2020

I’m ready to hedge my business’ FX risks, what documentation is involved with getting set up?

[00:04] There are some requirements that clients need to meet before doing any foreign exchange hedging with ATB.


The first is they require credit. We need to know how much they can do and for how long. These are internal limits that are set up at ATB.
We need settlement instructions. So we need to know where to draw the money from and where to pay the money to at expiry.

There are regulatory requirements too

[00:28] There are also regulatory requirements. The first is that the client have a Legal Entity Identifier or LEI. This is a 20-digit alphanumeric code and it's what ATB provides to the regulator when we report our trades and it ensures anonymity.


Finally, we need a Canadian representation letter and this essentially just says that when clients do foreign exchange trades with ATB, it's up to ATB to report them to the regulator — not the client.

To speak with our Financial Markets Group about which foreign exchange strategies might work for your unique international trade arrangements, contact our team directly at 1-855-282-3939 or financialmarkets@atb.com

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