Bye-bye covered interest parity (Claudio Borio, Robert McCauley, Patrick McGuire, Vladyslav Sushko, VOX)

Covered interest parity is close to a physical law in international finance, yet it has been consistently violated since the Global Crisis. Violations since 2014, once banks had strengthened their balance sheets and regained easy access to funding, are especially puzzling. This column argues that the violation reflects a combination of foreign exchange hedging demand and tighter limits to arbitrage. Hedging demand has been boosted, in particular, by divergent monetary policies in an ultra-low interest rate environment, while tighter limits to arbitrage result from a stricter management of banks’ balance sheets.

http://voxeu.org/article/bye-bye-covered-interest-parity