New currency pairs for which rates are provided, including EUR/USD and CNY/RUB
Starting today the Moscow Exchange has announced that it is changing the methodology of calculation of Moscow FX fixings, and in addition to the already priced USD/RUB, it introduces fixing prices for EUR/RUB, EUR/USD and CNY/RUB.
The move comes at a time when the FX rate rigging investigations are way on their way and FX fixing related banks have already come into the radar of regulators and newswires internationally. It seems as though by expanding its FX fixing offerings the Moscow Exchange aims at reducing its reliance on the 4pm London fix, which has been widely used by Russian companies to value certain dealings.
The addition of a CNY/RUB fix brings some positive sentiment behind easing of trade between the two countries and at least a start to the long debated BRICS efforts to gain more independence from the Western world’s financial system. It is naïve at best to believe that the BRICS countries can operate on a separate financial framework at this point, but it’s a start to more cooperation between them.
With the Chinese Third Plenum on its way since Saturday, it will be very interesting to put the Communist Party’s leadership goals for the next ten years in context. One of them is most certainly the convertibility of the Yuan currency.
For a link to the full methodology in calculating the new fix go to the website of the Moscow Exchange.
For more on the global Forex industry see the LeapRate-Dow Jones Forex Industry Report.