An agreement to make a currency exchange between two foreign parties. The agreement consists of swapping principal and interest payments on a loan made in one currency for principal and interest payments of a loan of equal value in another currency. The Federal Reserve System offered this type of swap to several developing countries in 2008. 



|||The World Bank first introduced currency swaps in 1981 in an effort to obtain German marks and Swiss francs. This type of swap can be done on loans with maturities as long as 10 years. They differ from interest rate swaps because they also involve principal.