intressrisk

Intressrisk, often translated as interest rate risk in English, is the risk that changes in prevailing interest rates will affect the value of financial instruments or the earnings of investors and institutions. It is a central concern for fixed‑income portfolios, banks, pension funds, and corporate borrowers, since rate movements influence bond prices, loan cash flows, discount rates, and net interest income.

The main sources of intressrisk include duration mismatches between assets and liabilities, embedded options in financial instruments (such as prepayment options in mortgages or callable features in bonds), and shifts in monetary policy or market expectations about future rates. Measures commonly used to quantify the risk include duration and modified duration, which estimate how much the price of a security changes with a given change in rates, and convexity, which accounts for the curvature in that relationship. Scenario analysis and stress testing help assess potential losses under different rate paths, and value-at-risk may be employed by institutions to gauge potential downside.

Impact can be significant. Rising rates typically reduce the market value of existing fixed‑rate bonds, increase the cost of new funding for borrowers, and compress net interest margins for banks and other lenders. Conversely, falling rates can boost bond values but reduce yields and income.

Management of intressrisk involves hedging with interest rate derivatives such as swaps, futures, and options, along with asset–liability management to align the timing and sensitivity of assets and liabilities. Diversification across instruments and maturities, and careful consideration of embedded options, are also common strategies.