Nigeria's central bank

REUTERS - Nigeria's central bank said on Friday it would return to a fully liberalised foreign exchange market over the next three months, allowing banks to freely trade among themselves after months of restrictions.
The regulator said it was increasing the net foreign exchange open position for banks to 2.5 percent from 1 with immediate effect, a first step toward lifting measures brought in in January to stem the naira currency's sharp decline.
"Banks are no longer mandatorily required to sell to the central bank after five daysfunds sourced from non-RDAS and non-oil export proceeds and may use such funds for interbank transactions," it said in a statement.
Nigeria introduced the Retail Dutch Auction System (RDAS) on Jan. 19, meaning bids for the purchase of foreign exchange must be cash-backed and funds purchased could only be used for eligible transactions.
The measures came after the naira fell more than 20 percent against the dollar in two months as the world's eighth biggest oil exporter battled with lower foreign earnings caused by a weaker oil price and the global economic downturn.

The Reserve Bank

In October 2009, the Reserve Bank released an updated version of its liquidity policy for banks Liquidity Policy (BS13) (PDF 189KB) and Liquid Assets Annex (BS13A) (PDF 127KB). Compared to the version issued on 30 June 2009, the updated policy reflects changes in the calibration of the minimum ratio requirements, in the light of feedback from banks on the expected impact of those requirements.
The Reserve Bank has now imposed new conditions of registration on most locally-incorporated banks requiring them to comply with the policy from 1 April 2010. A Regulatory Impact Assessment (PDF 203KB) of the new liquidity requirements sets out the objectives of the policy and the alternative options considered for achieving them, and assesses the relative costs and benefits of those options.
This completes the first stage of the implementation of the liquidity policy. A letter of 7 October 2009 (PDF 37KB) summarises further stages that the Reserve Bank is planning to achieve full implementation of the policy. In particular, the Reserve Bank intends to increase the minimum one-year core funding ratio from its initial level of 65%, to 70% from 1 July 2011, and to 75% from 1 July 2012. The Reserve Bank will keep this plan under review in the light of funding market conditions and banks’ experience in complying with the initial requirement.
In addition, the Reserve Bank will shortly be proposing new conditions of registration for the remaining registered banks, including branches of overseas-incorporated banks, to implement the liquidity policy for them. In October 2009, the Reserve Bank released an updated version of its liquidity policy for banks Liquidity Policy (BS13) (PDF 189KB) and Liquid Assets Annex (BS13A) (PDF 127KB). Compared to the version issued on 30 June 2009, the updated policy reflects changes in the calibration of the minimum ratio requirements, in the light of feedback from banks on the expected impact of those requirements.
The Reserve Bank has now imposed new conditions of registration on most locally-incorporated banks requiring them to comply with the policy from 1 April 2010. A Regulatory Impact Assessment (PDF 203KB) of the new liquidity requirements sets out the objectives of the policy and the alternative options considered for achieving them, and assesses the relative costs and benefits of those options.
This completes the first stage of the implementation of the liquidity policy. A letter of 7 October 2009 (PDF 37KB) summarises further stages that the Reserve Bank is planning to achieve full implementation of the policy. In particular, the Reserve Bank intends to increase the minimum one-year core funding ratio from its initial level of 65%, to 70% from 1 July 2011, and to 75% from 1 July 2012. The Reserve Bank will keep this plan under review in the light of funding market conditions and banks’ experience in complying with the initial requirement.
In addition, the Reserve Bank will shortly be proposing new conditions of registration for the remaining registered banks, including branches of overseas-incorporated banks, to implement the liquidity policy for them.

Global Finance

Global Finance names Alfa-Bank Best Forex Bank in Russia for 2005 — New York, USA

Alfa-Bank has been voted Best Forex Bank in Russia by Global Finance for two consecutive years.

“Success in FX these days means in-depth knowledge of the market, understanding mechanisms of its functioning and trends, creating a good product range, building up client base as well as a concerted and diligent work of the whole team starting with traders and sales force and ending with the back office, said Sergei Rodionov, Head of Capital Markets Division at Alfa-Bank.

This Award Report will be published as part of an exclusive survey in the April 2005 issue. In that issue the magazine will also publish rankings for “The Best Companies in Russia”, broken down by sector.

Global Finance editors — with input from end users, analysts, corporate reports and other expert sources — selected the best banks on a variety of criteria, both objective and subjective. Factors considered included: market leadership, innovation, commitment to markets and evidence of long-term strategy. “The Russian banking sector continued to show resilience and the ability to innovate and adapt,” said Global Finance publisher Joseph D. Giarraputo. “That’s recognized in our awards, for which there were strong competitors in every category. Russia’s banks show every sign of being able to mature and meet coming challenges in financing the country’s companies, consumers and savers.”

Alfa-Bank’s Foreign Exchange and Money Market department is headed by Igor Vasiliev.

Global Finance, which celebrates its 18th year of publishing in 2005, has 50,000 subscribers and more than 250,000 readers in over 158 countries. This audience includes chairmen, presidents, CEOs, CFOs, treasurers, and other financial officers responsible for making investments and strategic business decisions for large global companies and financial institutions. Global Finance targets most of the 8,000 key portfolio investors who control over 80% of all assets under professional management.

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The Polish zloty

The Polish zloty, one of the best performers among the Eastern EU members currencies this year had its rally halted today as the national bank indicated that a strong currency may jeopardize the economic recovery in one of the biggest European nations.

Today, the zloty was influenced by a national central bank policy maker, Jan Czekaj, who affirmed that if the Polish currency climbs further, the economic growth of Poland will be affected, creating a certain degree of tension regarding central bank future measures, naturally decreasing attractiveness for the zloty. The Polish economic recovery is likely to be driven by exports, mainly to the Eurozone, and being the zloty the best performing currency so far in this quarter, further appreciation is highly unwelcome by police markers in the National Bank of Poland. Within the European Union members, Poland is showing itself one of most resilient nations, posting a growth of 1.1 percent for the past quarter.

Jan Czekaj’s statements affected the zloty’s performance towards the end of this week, and most likely, it was meant to be so. Speculations that the central bank could take measures to slow down or halt the zloty’s rally are still not very significant, but if the Polish currency continues to climb, mainly versus the euro, measures may be considered for the mid-term future.

EUR/PLN traded at 4.1220 as of 13:34 GMT after being traded at 4.1075 yesterday.

If you want to comment on the Polish zloty’s recent action or have any questions regarding this currency, please, feel free to reply below.