Protecting your business from foreign exchange fluctuations Brian A. Foster Senior Vice President As businesses in the United States have struggled in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, they’ve had to mitigate risk, preserve cash and implement strategies to protect themselves from turbulent economies, both domestic and foreign. Foreign currency exchange rates can fluctuate greatly due to factors like unemployment, civil unrest, trade deals and more, and these fluctuations can translate to unanticipated losses for your business. For example, if your business makes a deal to sell a product to a company in Germany for 50,000 Euros, and at the time of the deal, a Euro is worth approx. $1.10 USD, your business would expect proceeds of $55,000. However, if the exchange rate drops by the time of delivery and payment to $1.04, you’d only net $52,000. Ultimately that foreign exchange fluctuation would cost your business $3,000. And that’s just on one deal.