Thomson Reuters (TR), the world’s leading source of intelligent information for businesses and professionals, announced that 21 leading Nepali banks have signed up to Thomson Reuters Dealing, the company’s industry standard trading platform for foreign exchange (FX). This enables trading professionals to connect with one another, hold conversations about different FX products and prices, as well as conduct FX transactions.According to the official press release issued by TR, this event will mark that the Nepali rupee trades on a global trading platform alongside major international currencies.

“The start of the dealing platform marks a move towards the automation in management of foreign exchange reserve in Nepal. It provides the Nepali banking sector with easy access to multiple counterparts at a time and helps to grasp the opportunities arising from changes in international financial markets. This will also maximize the efficiency of our people working in forex reserve management,” said Dr. Y.R. Khatiwada, Governor of Nepal Rastra Bank who officiated at a ceremony marking the occasion with the Nepal Bankers’ Association and the Foreign Exchange Dealers Association of Nepal.

“Thomson Reuters Dealing serves the world’s largest professional trading community and we are delighted to welcome these 21 Nepalese banks into that community,” said Sriram Ramnarayan, Vice President for Financial and Risk South Asia at Thomson Reuters. “This represents a new era in transparency, efficiency and automation in the way trades are executed in Nepal. The availability of real-time pricing information and automated trading processes will open up new opportunities for Nepal’s banks and enable them to tap into the global FX markets - the largest financial market in the world.”

Used by more than 18,000 trading professionals globally in more than 5,000 organisations across 120 countries, Thomson Reuters Dealing is the industry standard for FX trading professionals for price discovery, trade execution and seamless integration with back office processes.

Thomson Reuters has had a presence in Nepal for more than a decade working closely with the financial industry and the banking community and is the leading international financial provider to operate in the country in association with Nepal’s ICTC Group.


 

Banks Choose Short-term Investments

Most of the loan investments made by the commercial banks is found to be for a short period. Financial highlights released by the commercial banks for the second quarter of the running fiscal year 2012/13 shows so. Out of total credit issued by the banks, 51.57 per cent is as overdraft, trust receipt and working capital.

Experts say that banks are compelled to opt for short-term investment as the sectors such as infrastructure, manufacturing, hydropower and construction are moving in a sluggish pace. Sudhir Khatri,  CEO of Grand Bank Nepal said, “Such a situation has arisen as the banks need to maintain a balance between loan and deposit portfolios.” He said that such a situation is visible as the loan investments are made in accordance to the principle of asset management. Stakeholders say that while some banks have come out of the bubble burst of the housing sector around three years back, some are still in the critical situation.