International finance and cross-border payments: Foreign exchange, risk, trade finance and settlement

International finance begins when a cross-border commercial promise must survive currency movement, funding constraints, counterparty risk, bank intermediation, compliance controls, and final settlement. This chapter develops an integrated treasury-to-payment architecture linking foreign-exchange markets, parity conditions, corporate exposure measurement, hedging, international financing, working capital, trade finance, correspondent banking, clearing, settlement, and emerging payment technologies. It explains spot, forward and cross rates; purchasing-power and interest-rate parity; transaction, translation and economic exposure; forwards, futures, options, swaps, natural hedges and operational responses; and the economics of letters of credit, documentary collections, guarantees, export finance and open-account trade. African evidence is central through PAPSS, mobile money and Airtel Africa, while Airbus provides a comparative global hedging case. The chapter distinguishes financial messaging from settlement, hedging from speculation, accounting translation from cash exposure, and legal compliance from moral legitimacy. Christian moral reasoning treats finance as stewardship of claims, liquidity, risk and power, requiring truthfulness, fair dealing, inclusion, prudence, accountability and responsibility for foreseeable consequences.

Keywords: international finance; foreign exchange; currency exposure; hedging; treasury management; trade finance; letters of credit; cross-border payments; settlement risk; African payments