A quantitative analysis on the management of interest rate risk during 2022, by selected companies on the Oslo Stock Exchange.

Abstract

The purpose of the dissertation has been to look at how the hikes in interest rates have affected the most traded companies on the Oslo Stock Exchange (OBX). This has been done in a purely quantitative manner through manual data collection from financial reports. The findings indicate that the companies have experienced a substantial increase in the cost of debt in 2022.There were reactive attempts to mitigate the consequences of the rate hikes in the short-term. Those were on average not very effective. At the same time most of the companies fared better than they expected they would according to their own interest rate risk analysis. There have been some indications of attempts at reducing the long-term effects of the rate hikes. This has mostly been through risk mitigation and attempts at hedging against further rate hikes. Very few have bet on rate cuts as an attempt at long-term action against rate hikes, indicating that many expect the rates to remain high in the foreseeable future.