When most people think about conducting business on an international level, they think about exchanging foreign currencies as a requisite for conducting business because they must use local currency.

However what not all companies may realize is that foreign exchange itself can become a profit center, if you move away from just exchanging currency to conduct business in different countries and begin to speculate and take calculated risks.

Many large international corporations have an entire division of their company that is committed to foreign exchange, and they will handle the exchange of currencies to conduct business internationally as well as using vehicles like futures and options to hedge any potential exchange rate risk.

Sometimes this type of foreign exchange management can become a business unto itself due to the ability of traders to make money trading currencies. While it is unlikely that such a company would stop the normal course of their business to become full-time traders, it can be an excellent way to protect the company from bad markets or rapid exchange rate fluctuations.