This chapter first discusses financial risk management from a broad perspective, including possible definitions and examples of industry applications of financial hedging. The discussion then moves to a basic review of the theoretical rationales for managing (financial) risk and the related empirical findings.

The potential for the interaction of financial hedging with other areas of risk management (such as operational and strategic) is then explored. Finally, there is a discussion regarding the lessons that can be applied to Enterprise Risk Management from the knowledge base about financial hedging.