BB warns banks against forex manipulation

Bangladesh Bank (BB) has cautioned treasury heads of all scheduled banks to refrain from any form of manipulation in foreign-exchange transactions in the coming days.
The warning was issued at a meeting held at the Bangladesh Bank (BB) headquarters in the capital on Tuesday, with BB Governor Md Mostaqur Rahman in the chair.
At the meeting, the central bank governor assured that the BB would not interfere in the market but warned that any act of manipulation would not be tolerated.
The BB governor also sought cooperation from treasury heads to bring dynamism to interbank transactions, according to meeting sources.
"We want to see a vibrant interbank foreign exchange  market," the BB governor told the meeting, according to a senior treasury head.
The governor discussed details of the country's foreign exchange (forex) market in two phases.
In the first phase, Mr Rahman alone spoke with senior treasury officials to understand the pattern of the market and sought their observations and opinions on how to make the market truly free-floating and globally acceptable.
In the second round of discussions, other relevant central bank officials took part.
The central bank high-ups asked treasury heads to prepare their exchange positions properly to minimise the gap between NOSTRO and local books.
A NOSTRO account is an account that a local bank maintains with an overseas bank in a foreign currency.
The central bankers also informed the meeting that they would continuously monitor their functions through regular inspections.
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