A U.S.-based oilfield pipe supplier needed to purchase a tube bending machine from Europe worth millions. Facing an 18-month lead time, the company was concerned that a rising Euro could push the purchase price well over budget by the time it was built.

BOK Financial’s FX team used a series of forward contracts to match the progress-payments timeline, locking in the exchange rate. When the Euro began a long-term rally against the dollar, the company was protected from paying an additional $650,000 for the machine.

Recently, a U.S.-based museum had an antique vase that didn’t fit well with the rest of the collection, so they decided to sell it at an international auction. It is common practice for foreign auction houses to convert the proceeds into the local currency of the buyer. However, this can be costly for the seller, who potentially loses some of the proceeds due to foreign conversions.

Before their auction, the museum worked with the BOK Financial FX team to handle the conversion process. The vase commanded a $14.5 million price, and by working with our Foreign Exchange specialists, the museum received approximately $1.2 million more than they would have without our help.

A U.S.-based company had been participating in Canadian auctions to purchase discarded electronic equipment. By submitting bids in U.S. dollars, however, they could not successfully outbid their Canadian competitors. To understand why they continued to lose on offers, they reached out to BOK Financial’s FX team for suggestions.

We helped develop a pricing model to ensure suitable margins if the bid succeeded. The company not only won its next auction but also every auction to which it submitted bids moving forward.