KATHMANDU, March 24: Twenty-one commercial banks operating in Nepal and Nepal Rastra Bank, the central monetary authority, have installed global foreign exchange trading platform of Thomson Reuters paving way for Nepal´s banking community to carry out transaction of world´s different currencies on real time basis.
With the use of the trading platform, Nepali rupee will now be traded alongside major international currencies, providing currency traders credible information on value of Nepali currency, which currently is available the next day.
In Nepal, currency trading so far is being conducted with the use of phones which is orthodox and hectic, Rajan Singh Bhandari, president of Nepal Bankers´ Association and CEO of Citizens Bank International, told a press conference held in Kathmandu on Sunday. “Finally, foreign currency trading has been automated,” he said.[break]
In an era of information technology where people want instant results, the service introduced by Reuters will provide the country´s banking community access to credible information and allow banks to interact with maximum number of currency traders across the globe, Nepal Rastra Bank Governor Yuba Raj Khatiwada said inaugurating the trading platform.
He further said: “The Nepali money market will no longer be called sub optimal and the system will allow banks to confidently conduct money market operations efficiently.”
The Thomson Reuters foreign exchange trading platform is currently being used by over 18,000 trading professionals in more than 5,000 organizations in 120 countries. In Nepal, only 21 of the 32 commercial banks have subscribed to the service. Few that are left out are newer banks like Commerz and Trust, and Nepal SBI and Everest that are Indian joint ventures, Reuters said.
“One of the biggest advantages of using this platform is price discovery,” Sriram Ramnarayan, vice president, financial and risk South Asia, Thomson Reuters, told journalists. This means those who are using the platform will get to see prices at which international currencies are being traded and place orders and quotations to buy and sell currencies instantly.
“The platform also allows users to quickly and efficiently contact their trading counterparties across a highly secure and reliable network, find liquidity in instruments they are trading and get a clear view of where the foreign exchange markets are heading,” Reuters said in a statement.
Although Reuters did not reveal cost of the service, people familiar with the matter told Republica that a monthly fee of US$ 1,200 is being charged on each user. “The cost includes installation of hardware and software, training and back-up services,” the source said.
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