Malaysia Central Bank tells banks to use local FX reference rate
Jan 29 (Reuters) – Malaysia’s central bank said it has told domestic banks they must use a reference rate produced by the country’s foreign exchange association for ringgit foreign exchange contracts.
The central bank’s directive would exclude use of a Singapore-based fixing that is currently used by many traders in the market.
The directive was sent to heads of banks in Malaysia and dated Friday. Traders in Kuala Lumpur said the central bank had provided no reason for the ruling.
Traders, speaking on condition they not be named, said onshore banks had been told to use the spot ringgit rate derived each day from contributions onshore. That rate is managed by the Association Cambiste Internationale (ACI) and is an average of contributions from 12 banks.
Many of them had been using the reference rate provided by the Association of Banks in Singapore. The ABS’s set of rates includes spot currency rates and interest rates for the ringgit, Singapore dollar, Thai baht and Indonesian rupiah.
The ABS declined comment.
“Please be informed that a licensed onshore bank is required to ensure that the Malaysian USDMYR fixing is used as reference for the pricing of foreign exchange contracts involving ringgit. No other fixing shall be used as reference,” Bank Negara Malaysia’s note to banks said. A copy of the circular was seen by Reuters.
The reference rates, or fixings, are used by banks to settle maturing onshore forward contracts and offshore non-deliverable forwards (NDFs).
Singapore’s central bank, the Monetary Authority of Singapore, ordered banks that help set local interbank lending rates and NDF rates to review the fixing process last year as U.S. and British regulators cracked down on manipulation of the London interbank offered rate (Libor), a benchmark used to set interest rates for around $600 trillion worth of securities.
A source with knowledge of the inquiries told Reuters that the internal reviews by banks in Singapore had found evidence that traders colluded to manipulate rates in the NDF market.
The source did not make specific comments about possible wrongdoing by individual banks or traders and Reuters has no independent evidence of such wrongdoing.
(Editing by Edmund Klamann)