ICAS ICAS logo

Quicklinks

  1. About Us

    Find out about who we are and what we do here at ICAS.

  2. Find a CA

    Search our directory of individual CAs and Member organisations by name, location and professional criteria.

  3. Careers

    Access current vacancies and understand what it’s like to work here at ICAS.

  4. Contact Us

    Get in touch with ICAS by phone, email or post, with dedicated contacts for Members, Students and firms.

Login
  • Annual renewal
  • About us
  • Find a CA
  • Careers
  • Contact us
  • Become a CA
  • CA jobs
  • SCABA
  • ICAS Foundation
  1. Members
    1. Become a member
    2. Manage my membership
    3. Benefits of membership
    4. Professional development
    5. Mentoring
    6. Member rewards
    7. CA jobs
    8. Area networks
    9. International communities
    10. Get involved
    11. CA Connect
    12. CA magazine
    13. Top Young CAs
    14. Career breaks
    15. The ICAS member app
    16. Newly admitted members 2021
    17. CA Wellbeing
  2. Become a CA
    1. How to become a CA
    2. Routes to becoming a CA
    3. CA Stories
    4. Find a training agreement
    5. Why become a CA
    6. Qualification information
  3. CA Students
    1. Studying with ICAS
    2. Timetables and exams
    3. Learning requirements
    4. Learning updates
    5. Learning blog
    6. Totum Pro | Student discount card
  4. Employers
    1. Become an Authorised Training Office (ATO)
    2. Resources for Authorised Training Offices (ATO)
    3. Professional entry
    4. Apprenticeships
  5. Thought leadership
    1. Technology
    2. Trust
    3. Talent
    4. Research
    5. CA Agenda podcast
    6. CA Agenda videos
    7. ICAS webinars
    8. CA Summit
  6. Professional resources
    1. Anti-money laundering
    2. Audit and assurance
    3. Brexit
    4. Charities
    5. Coronavirus
    6. Corporate and financial reporting
    7. Business and governance
    8. Ethics
    9. Insolvency
    10. Pensions
    11. Practice
    12. Public sector
    13. Sustainability
    14. Tax
  7. Regulation
    1. Complaints and sanctions
    2. Regulatory authorisations
    3. Guidance and help sheets
    4. Regulatory monitoring
  8. Governance
    1. At a glance
    2. Charter, rules and regulations
    3. Council
    4. Boards and key committees
    5. Public reporting
    6. Executive team
    7. Diversity
    8. Member research
  9. Contact us
    1. ICAS technical helpdesk
    2. ICAS logo request
  10. Careers
    1. Business centres
    2. Meet our team
    3. Benefits
    4. Vacancies
    5. Imagine your career at ICAS

Currency and the coronavirus

  • LinkedIn (opens new window)
  • Twitter (opens new window)
By Jeremy Thomson-Cook, Chief Economist, FairFX (soon to be Equals)

6 March 2020

Jeremy Thomson-Cook, Chief Economist, FairFX looks at how the Covid-19 outbreak is impacting global markets.


Jeremy recently joined FairFX as their Chief Economist. He has been working in financial markets and finance since 2002 – he specialises in helping clients understand their currency risk which enables them to maximise their international payments.


The emergence of the coronavirus, Covid-19, in China over the past few months and its subsequent global spread has had the largest negative impact on financial markets since the financial crisis of 2008. It is truly a ‘black swan’ moment; a hard-to-predict but ultimately incredibly powerful occurrence that shows a lack of systemic preparedness and policy inefficacy.

At the time of writing, the number of cases in the Western Hemisphere is rising, businesses are cancelling conferences, countries are banning large-scale public gatherings and the wider economic data is starting to pitch lower with financial markets starting to crack.

Our job at FairFX is to stay ahead of these developments and inform our clients as to their likely effect on currencies. We are not epidemiologists, but it helps to look at where this all began to work out what the future may hold.

How have markets reacted since the virus became front page news?

If there is a lesson to learn from this whole episode it is that financial markets were incredibly complacent to the risks that the virus posed to the global economy. While it was initially a problem in the city of Wuhan, and then in the wider Hubei province - stock, bond and currency markets were incredibly sanguine. It was only when infections and deaths were reported in Italy and the conversation changed to an impact on supply chains that investors started to run for the door.

It is a well-worn aphorism that markets don’t like uncertainty, and the slowing of global growth alongside a hefty dollop of fear that comes from the spread of a new virus pushed equity markets into their largest falls since 2008.

In currency terms we have seen some large and swift moves.

Despite the number of infections in Italy, the euro has swung higher as investors exit trades that initially caused them to sell the single currency. Similarly, the dollar has slipped as investors bet that if any central bank is going to have to cut interest rates then it would be the Federal Reserve. They bowed to that pressure this week. As for the pound, let’s just say that concerns over a slowing of global trade coming at the same time as increased scepticism over Brexit have had a familiar effect.

What to look out for in the coming weeks

Moving forward we expect that the headlines around coronavirus will shift from levels and areas of infection to the economic impact and the steps taken by government and central banks to assist and support the wider economy.

In the UK, US and Eurozone expectations are that central banks will cut interest rates alongside pushing commercial banks to offer favourable lines of credit and payment terms to businesses operating in affected sectors.

Similarly, governments may feel the need to increase spending on anything from medical provisions to offering financial support to households who cannot work due to quarantine procedures.

Currency markets will remain volatile as investors work out whether the virus’s effects are enough to pitch local or global economies into recession. These are the times that a sensible hedging strategy pays dividends by smoothing out volatility in short term pricing.
Other than that, just remember to wash your hands.


FairFX helps businesses and individuals to save money when transferring money abroad. They have teamed up with ICAS to offer members special offers on their currency transfers.

Find out more

ICAS guidance for members and students for coronavirus (COVID-19)

By ICAS

18 March 2020

2021-02-croner-i 2021-02-croner-i
ICAS logo

Footer links

  • Contact us
  • Terms and conditions
  • Modern slavery statement
  • Privacy notice

Connect with ICAS

  • Facebook (opens new window) Facebook Icon
  • Twitter (opens new window) Twitter Icon
  • LinkedIn (opens new window) LinkedIn Icon
  • Instagram (opens new window) Instagram Icon

ICAS is a member of the following bodies

  • Consultative Committee of Accountancy Bodies (opens new window) Consultative Committee of Accountancy Bodies logo
  • Chartered Accountants Worldwide (opens new window) Chartered Accountants Worldwide logo
  • Global Accounting Alliance (opens new window) Global Accounting Alliance
  • International Federation of Accountants (opens new window) IFAC
  • Access Accountancy (opens new window) Access Acountancy

Charities

  • ICAS Foundation (opens new window) ICAS Foundation
  • SCABA (opens new window) scaba
ICAS logo

Our cookie policy

ICAS.com uses cookies which are essential for our website to work. We would also like to use analytical cookies to help us improve our website and your user experience. Any data collected is anonymised. Please have a look at the further information in our cookie policy and confirm if you are happy for us to use analytical cookies: