Bank for International Settlements
Type International organization
Purpose/focus Central bank cooperation
Location Basel, Switzerland
Membership 58 central banks
General
manager
Jaime Caruana
Main organ Board of directors[1]
Website www.bis.org
(http://www.bis.org)
BIS members.
Bank for International SettlementsFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Bank for International Settlements (BIS) is an international organization of central banks which "fosters
international monetary and financial cooperation and serves as a bank for central banks".[2] As an international institution, it
is not accountable to any single national government.
The BIS carries out its work through subcommittees, the secretariats it hosts and through an annual general meeting of all
member banks. It also provides banking services, but only to central banks and other international organizations. It is based
in Basel, Switzerland, with representative offices in Hong Kong and Mexico City.
Contents
■ 1 History
■ 2 Organization of central banks
■ 2.1 Regulates capital adequacy
■ 2.2 Encourages reserve transparency
■ 3 Tier 1 versus total capital
■ 4 Goal: a financial safety net
■ 5 Role in banking supervision
■ 6 Accounting and use of SDRs
■ 7 Members
■ 8 General managers
■ 9 Board of directors
■ 10 See also
■ 11 References
■ 12 External links
History
The BIS was established by an intergovernmental agreement in 1930, the founding states being
Germany, Belgium, France, Great Britain and Northern Ireland, Italy, Japan, and Switzerland.[3]
The Bank was originally intended to facilitate reparations imposed on Germany by the Treaty of
Versailles after World War I.[4] The need to establish a dedicated institution for this purpose was
suggested in 1929 by the Young Committee, and was agreed to in August of that year at a
conference at The Hague. A charter for the bank was drafted at the International Bankers
Conference at Baden Baden in November, and its charter was adopted at a second Hague
Conference on January 20, 1930. According to the charter, shares in the bank could be held by
individuals and non-governmental entities. The BIS was constituted as having corporate existence
in Switzerland on the basis of an agreement with Switzerland acting as headquarter state for the
bank. It also enjoyed immunity in all the contracting states.
Between 1933 and 1945, the board of directors of the BIS included Walter Funk, a prominent Nazi
official; and Emil Puhl, who were both convicted at the Nuremberg trials after World War II, as well as Hermann Schmitz, the director of IG Farben; and Baron von
Schroeder, the owner of the J.H.Stein Bank, the bank that held the deposits of the Gestapo. There were allegations that the BIS had helped the Germans loot assets from
occupied countries during World War II.
As a result of these allegations, at the Bretton Woods Conference held in July 1944, Norway proposed the "liquidation of the Bank for International Settlements at the earliest
possible moment". This resulted in the BIS being the subject of a disagreement between the American and British delegations. The liquidation of the bank was supported by
other European delegates, as well as the United States (including Harry Dexter White, Secretary of the Treasury, and Henry Morgenthau),[5] but opposed by John Maynard
Keynes, head of the British delegation.
Fearing that the BIS would be dissolved by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Keynes went to Morgenthau hoping to prevent the dissolution, or have it postponed, but the
next day the dissolution of the BIS was approved. However, the liquidation of the bank was never actually undertaken.[6] In April 1945, the new U.S. president Harry S.
Truman and the British government suspended the dissolution, and the decision to liquidate the BIS was officially reversed in 1948.[7]
The BIS was originally owned by both governments and private individuals, since the United States and France had decided to sell some of their shares to private investors.
BIS shares traded on stock markets, which made the bank an unusual organization: an international organization (in the technical sense of public international law), yet
allowed for private shareholders. Many central banks had similarly started as such private institutions; for example, the Bank of England was privately owned until 1946. In
more recent years the BIS has bought back its once publicly traded shares.[8] It is now wholly owned by BIS members (central banks) but still operates in the private market as
a counterparty, asset manager and lender for central banks and international financial institutions. [9] Profits from its transactions are used, among other things, to fund the
bank's other international activities.
Organization of central banks
As an organization of central banks, the BIS seeks to make monetary policy more predictable and transparent among its 58 member
central banks. While monetary policy is determined by each sovereign nation, it is subject to central and private banking scrutiny and
potentially to speculation that affects foreign exchange rates and especially the fate of export economies. Failures to keep monetary
policy in line with reality and make monetary reforms in time, preferably as a simultaneous policy among all 58 member banks and
also involving the International Monetary Fund, have historically led to losses in the billions as banks try to maintain a policy using
open market methods that have proven to be based on unrealistic assumptions.
Coordinates:
Page 1 of 4Bank for International Settlements - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
3/3/2013http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bank_for_International_Settlements
The BIS Headquarters in Basel,
Switzerland.
BIS building by Mario Botta, in
Basel.
Central banks do not unilaterally "set" rates, rather they set goals and intervene using their massive financial resources and regulatory
powers to achieve monetary targets they set. One reason to coordinate policy closely is to ensure that this does not become too
expensive and that opportunities for private arbitrage exploiting shifts in policy or difference in policy, are rare and quickly removed.
Two aspects of monetary policy have proven to be particularly sensitive, and the BIS therefore has two specific goals: to regulate
capital adequacy and make reserve requirements transparent.
Regulates capital adequacy
Capital adequacy policy applies to equity and capital assets. These can be overvalued in many circumstances because they do not
always reflect current market conditions or adequately assess the risk of every trading position. Accordingly the BIS requires the
capital/asset ratio of central banks to be above a prescribed minimum international standard, for the protection of all central banks
involved.
The BIS's main role is in setting capital adequacy requirements. From an international point of view, ensuring capital adequacy is the
most important problem between central banks, as speculative lending based on inadequate underlying capital and widely varying
liability rules causes economic crises as "bad money drives out good" (Gresham's Law).
Encourages reserve transparency
Reserve policy is also important, especially to consumers and the domestic economy. To ensure liquidity and limit liability to the
larger economy, banks cannot create money in specific industries or regions without limit. To make bank depositing and borrowing
safer for customers and reduce risk of bank runs, banks are required to set aside or "reserve".
Reserve policy is harder to standardize as it depends on local conditions and is often fine-tuned to make industry-specific or region-
specific changes, especially within large developing nations. For instance, the People's Bank of China requires urban banks to hold 7%
reserves while letting rural banks continue to hold only 6%, and simultaneously telling all banks that reserve requirements on certain
overheated industries would rise sharply or penalties would be laid if investments in them did not stop completely. The PBoC is thus
unusual in acting as a national bank, focused on the country not on the currency, but its desire to control asset inflation is increasingly
shared among BIS members who fear "bubbles", and among exporting countries that find it difficult to manage the diverse
requirements of the domestic economy, especially rural agriculture, and an export economy, especially in manufactured goods.
Effectively, the PBoC sets different reserve levels for domestic and export styles of development. Historically, the United States also did this, by dividing federal monetary
management into nine regions, in which the less-developed western United States had looser policies.
For various reasons it has become quite difficult to accurately assess reserves on more than simple loan instruments, and this plus the regional differences has tended to
discourage standardizing any reserve rules at the global BIS scale. Historically, the BIS did set some standards which favoured lending money to private landowners (at about
5 to 1) and for-profit corporations (at about 2 to 1) over loans to individuals. These distinctions reflecting classical economics were superseded by policies relying on
undifferentiated market values—more in line with neoclassical economics.
Tier 1 versus total capital
The BIS sets "requirements on two categories of capital, tier 1 capital and total capital. Tier 1 capital is the book value of its stock plus retained earnings. Tier 2 capital is loan
-loss reserves plus subordinated debt. Total capital is the sum of Tier 1 and Tier 2 capital. Tier 1 capital must be at least 4% of total risk-weighted assets. Total capital must be
at least 8% of total risk-weighted assets. When a bank creates a deposit to fund a loan, its assets and liabilities increase equally, with no increase in equity. That causes its
capital ratio to drop. Thus the capital requirement limits the total amount of credit that a bank may issue. It is important to note that the capital requirement applies to assets
while the bank reserve requirement applies to liabilities."[10]
Goal: a financial safety net
The relatively narrow role the BIS plays today does not reflect its ambitions or historical role.
A "well-designed financial safety net, supported by strong prudential regulation and supervision, effective laws that are enforced, and sound accounting and disclosure
regimes", are among the Bank's goals. In fact they have been in its mandate since its founding in 1930 as a means to enforce the Treaty of Versailles.
The BIS has historically had less power to enforce this "safety net" than it deems necessary. Recent head Andrew Crockett has bemoaned its inability to "hardwire the credit
culture", despite many specific attempts to address specific concerns such as the growth of offshore financial centres (OFCs), highly leveraged institutions (HLIs), large and
complex financial institutions (LCFIs), deposit insurance, and especially the spread of money laundering and accounting scandals.
Role in banking supervision
The BIS provides the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision with its 17-member secretariat, and with it has played a central role in establishing the Basel Capital Accords
of 1988 and 2004. There remain significant differences between United States, EU, and UN officials regarding the degree of capital adequacy and reserve controls that global
banking now requires. Put extremely simply, the United States, as of 2006, favoured strong strict central controls in the spirit of the original 1988 accords, while the EU was
more inclined to a distributed system managed collectively with a committee able to approve some exceptions.
The UN agencies, especially ICLEI, are firmly committed to fundamental risk measures: the so-called triple bottom line and were becoming critical of central banking as an
institutional structure for ignoring fundamental risks in favour of technical risk management.
Accounting and use of SDRs
Since 2004, the BIS has published its accounts in terms of special drawing rights (SDRs), replacing the gold franc as the bank's unit of account. As of March 2007 (end of
month) the bank had total assets of $409.15 billion, given a dollar/SDR exchange rate of 1.51 for March 30, 2007. Included in that total is 150 tons of fine gold.
Members
60 member central banks or monetary authorities of these countries:
Page 2 of 4Bank for International Settlements - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
3/3/2013http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bank_for_International_Settlements
Algeria
Argentina
Australia
Austria
Belgium
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Brazil
Bulgaria
Canada
Chile
China
Colombia
Croatia
Czech Republic
Denmark
Estonia
Finland
France
Germany
Greece
Hong Kong
Hungary
Iceland
India
Indonesia
Ireland
Israel
Italy
Japan
South Korea
Latvia
Lithuania
Luxembourg
Macedonia
Malaysia
Mexico
Netherlands
New Zealand
Norway
Peru
Philippines
Poland
Portugal
Romania
Russia
Saudi Arabia
Serbia
Singapore
Slovakia
Slovenia
South Africa
Spain
Sweden
Switzerland
Thailand
Turkey
United Arab Emirates
United Kingdom
United States
European Central Bank
General managers
Name Nationality Dates
Jaime Caruana Spain April 2009 – present
Malcolm D. Knight Canada April 2003 – September 2008
Sir Andrew Crockett United Kingdom January 1994 – March 2003
Alexandre Lamfalussy Belgium May 1985 – December 1993
Gunther Schleiminger Germany 1981 – May 1985
René Larre France 1971–1981
Gabriel Ferras France 1963–1971
Guillaume Guindey France 1958–1963
Roger Auboin France 1938–1958
Pierre Quesnay France 1930–1938
Board of directors
■ Christian Noyer, Paris (Chairman of the Board of Directors)
■ Masaaki Shirakawa, Tokyo
■ Ben Bernanke, Washington, D.C.
■ Mark Carney, Ottawa
■ Agustín Carstens, Mexico City
■ Luc Coene, Brussels
■ Andreas Dombret, Frankfurt am Main
■ Mario Draghi, Frankfurt am Main
■ William Dudley, New York
■ Stefan Ingves, Stockholm
■ Thomas Jordan, Zurich
■ Mervyn King, London
■ Klaas Knot, Amsterdam
■ Anne Le Lorier, Paris
■ Guy Quaden, Brussels
■ Fabrizio Saccomanni, Rome
■ Ignazio Visco, Rome
■ Jens Weidmann, Frankfurt am Main
■ Zhou Xiaochuan, Beijing
See also
■ Bank regulation
■ Basel III
■ Continuous linked settlement
■ Global financial system
■ International Court of Justice
■ League of Nations
References
1. ^ "Board of Directors" (http://www.bis.org/about/board.htm) . www.bis.org/. Archived (http://web.archive.org/web/20110422070523/http://bis.org/about/board.htm) from the original on
22 April 2011. http://www.bis.org/about/board.htm. Retrieved 2011-04-14.
Page 3 of 4Bank for International Settlements - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
3/3/2013http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bank_for_International_Settlements
2. ^ "About BIS" (http://www.bis.org/about/index.htm) . Web page of Bank for International Settlements. Archived
(http://web.archive.org/web/20080514223453/http://www.bis.org/about/index.htm) from the original on 14 May 2008. http://www.bis.org/about/index.htm. Retrieved May 17, 2008.
3. ^ http://treaties.un.org/Pages/showDetails.aspx?objid=0800000280167c31
4. ^ BIS History - Overview. (http://www.bis.org/about/history.htm) BIS website. Retrieved 2011-02-13.
5. ^ United Nations Monetary and Financial Conference, Final Act (London et al., 1944), Article IV.
6. ^ R. F. Mikesell, The Bretton Woods Debates: A Memoir, Essays in International Finance 192 (Princeton: International Finance Section, Dept. of Economics, Princeton University, 1994),
p. 42 . ISBN 0-88165-099-4.
7. ^ brief history of the BIS (http://www.bis.org/about/arch_guide.pdf)
8. ^ http://www.bis.org/press/p050601.htm
9. ^ http://www.bis.org/banking/finserv.htm
10. ^ Liu, Henry C. K. China: PART 4: China steady on the peg (http://atimes01.atimes.com/atimes/China/FL01Ad01.html)
External links
■ BIS website (http://www.bis.org/index.htm)
■ Global Banking: The Bank For International Settlements (http://www.newswithviews.com/Wood/patrick4.htm) An analysis of the origins and functions of the BIS.
■ The Money Club (http://www.edwardjayepstein.com/archived/moneyclub.htm) By Edward Jay Epstein, Harpers, 1983.
■ Andrew Crockett statement to the IMF. (http://www.imf.org/external/am/2001/o/imfcstat/fsf.htm)
■ An account of the use of reserve policy and other central bank powers in China (http://atimes01.atimes.com/atimes/China/FL01Ad01.html) By Henry C K Liu in the Asia Times.
■ A video documentary about the BIS role in financing Nazi Germany by British Television (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YauM5dHLn1s)
■ Bank for International Settlements (http://dodis.ch/R266) in the Dodis database of the Diplomatic Documents of Switzerland
47°32′53″N 7°35′31″E (http://toolserver.org/~geohack/geohack.php?pagename=Bank_for_International_Settlements¶ms=47_32_53_N_7_35_31_E_region:CH-BS_type:landmark)
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Bank_for_International_Settlements&oldid=539443744"
Categories: Banks established in 1930 1930 establishments in Switzerland Central banks International banking institutions International finance institutions
Supranational banks
■ This page was last modified on 21 February 2013 at 15:54.
■ Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply. See Terms of Use for details.
Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization.
Page 4 of 4Bank for International Settlements - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
3/3/2013http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bank_for_International_Settlements
IMF calls for dollar alternative
NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- The International Monetary Fund issued a
report Thursday on a possible replacement for the dollar as the world's
reserve currency.
The IMF said Special Drawing Rights, or SDRs, could help stabilize the
global financial system.
SDRs represent potential claims on
the currencies of IMF members.
They were created by the IMF in
1969 and can be converted into
whatever currency a borrower
requires at exchange rates based on
a weighted basket of international
currencies. The IMF typically lends
countries funds denominated in SDRs
While they are not a tangible currency, some economists argue that SDRs
could be used as a less volatile alternative to the U.S. dollar.
Dominique Strauss-Kahn, managing director of the IMF, acknowledged
there are some "technical hurdles" involved with SDRs, but he believes they
could help correct global imbalances and shore up the global financial
system.
"Over time, there may also be a role for the SDR to contribute to a more
stable international monetary system," he said.
The goal is to have a reserve asset for central banks that better reflects the
global economy since the dollar is vulnerable to swings in the domestic
economy and changes in U.S. policy.
In addition to serving as a reserve currency, the IMF also proposed creating
SDR-denominated bonds, which could reduce central banks' dependence
on U.S. Treasuries. The Fund also suggested that certain assets, such as oil
and gold, which are traded in U.S. dollars, could be priced using SDRs.
Oil prices usually go up when the dollar depreciates. Supporters say using
SDRs to price oil on the global market could help prevent spikes in energy
By Ben Rooney, staff reporter February 10, 2011: 4:37 PM ET
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3/3/2013http://money.cnn.com/2011/02/10/markets/dollar/index.htm
prices that often occur when the dollar weakens significantly.
The dollar alternatives
Fred Bergsten, director of the Peterson Institute for International Economics,
said at a conference in Washington that IMF member nations should agree
to create $2 trillion worth of SDRs over the next few years.
SDRs, he said, "will further diversify the system."
Dollar firms after starting 2011 weak
The dollar has been drifting lower so far this year as the global economy
improves and investors regain their appetite for more risky assets such as
stocks and commodities.
After rising above 81 in early January, the dollar index, which measures the
U.S. currency against a basket of other international currencies, eased
below 77 earlier this week.
However, the dollar was higher Thursday against the euro, pound and yen
as disappointing corporate results weighed on stock prices following
several days of gains on Wall Street. The rally in the commodities market
also cooled, with the price of oil and metals backing off recent highs.
In addition, renewed concerns about the debt problems facing troubled
European economies put pressure on the euro and supported the dollar.
The yield on Portugal's benchmark bond rose to a record high Wednesday,
and borrowing costs for Ireland, Spain and Greece remain elevated.
"The market is shedding risk, with equities and commodities weakening and
the U.S. dollar broadly stronger" said Camilla Sutton, currency strategist at
Scotia Capital.
Traders were also digesting comments from Federal Reserve chairman
Ben Bernanke, who told Congress Wednesday that despite a strengthening
economic recovery, the unemployment rate remains high while inflation is
"still quite low."
Those remarks reaffirmed the view that "the Fed would be very slow to
tighten policy given its dual mandate of price stability and employment,"
analysts at Sucden Financial wrote in a research report.
Bernanke also urged lawmakers to come up with a "credible plan" to bring
down "unsustainable" federal budget deficits.
"We expect that the outlook for the U.S. fiscal position will weigh heavily on
the U.S. dollar in the quarters ahead," said Sutton. In the near-term,
however, she said "a strengthening growth profile" could help provide "a temporary period of dollar strength."
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Page 3 of 3IMF discusses plan to replace dollar as reserve currency - Feb. 10, 2011
3/3/2013http://money.cnn.com/2011/02/10/markets/dollar/index.htm
International Monetary Fund (IMF) and Special Drawing Rights (SDRs)
The primary means of financing the IMF is through members' quotas. Each member of the IMF is assigned a quota, part of which is payable in SDRs or specified usable currencies ("reserve assets"), and part in the member's own currency. The difference between a member's quota and the IMF's holdings of its currency is a country's Reserve Tranche Position (RTP). Although it is not held in the Exchange Equalisation Account, the UK's RTP forms part of the UK's official reserves. This is because the UK, in common with other members of the IMF, may, upon declaring a balance of payments need, draw down its RTP at short notice in the form of convertible foreign currency.
The SDR is an international reserve asset created by the IMF. Its value is defined in terms of a basket of the US dollar, the euro, the yen and sterling. The IMF has periodically created SDRs, and allocated them to members in proportion to their quotas. The UK's SDR allocation is a liability of the EEA and the resultant holding of SDRs by the UK are an asset of the EEA. IMFmembers are credited with interest on their holdings of SDRs and pay interest on their allocation of SDRs. Interest payments and receipts are made in SDRs.
Over the years the IMF has supplemented the quota system with other sources of funding: General Arrangements to Borrow (GAB) - These are long-standing arrangements under which the Group of Ten industrial countries stand ready to lend to the IMF to finance purchases that aim at forestalling or coping with a situation that could impair the international monetary system. New Arrangements to Borrow (NAB) - Since 1998 the Fund has had a SDR 34 billion facility at its disposal, provided by GAB members and other IMF members. The intention was that the NAB would replace the GAB as the primary financial resource for the Fund in the event that additional liquidity was required.
At the G-20 Summit in April 2009, world leaders pledged to support growth in emerging market and developing countries by boosting the IMF's lending resources to $750 billion. They committed to increase the resources available to the IMF by $250 billion through immediatecontributions from some IMF member countries. The G-20 agreed that these bilateral contributions will subsequently be incorporated into an expanded NAB. The G-20's intention is to increase the resources available through a more flexible NAB by up to $500 billion. In addition, the G-20 supported a general allocation of the IMF's Special Drawing Rights equivalent to $250 billion to boost global liquidity.
When the IMF draws on these facilities, the UK advances currency to the IMF and receives an SDR-denominated claim on the IMF. This claim forms part of the official reserves.
Useful links
IMF website
Page 1 of 1Bank of England | Markets | Foreign Exchange Markets | UK's Official Reserves | Internat...
3/3/2013http://www.bankofengland.co.uk/markets/Pages/forex/reserves/imf_sdrs.aspx
SDR to replace gold franc at the BIS (print version)
10 March 2003
The Bank for International Settlements (BIS) today announced that the Special Drawing Right (SDR) would replace the gold franc as the Bank's unit of account as from 1 April 2003. This decision was made today at an Extraordinary General Meeting of member central banks of the BIS. The Bank also decided to take steps towards modernising its financial accounting and reporting practices.
Used by a number of international organisations, the SDR is an international unit of account defined by the IMF and based on a basket of major currencies. The gold franc has served as the unit of account for the BIS since its establishment in 1930.
Commenting on the change, Andrew Crockett, General Manager of the BIS, said: "I welcome the introduction of the SDR. Along with a strengthened accounting framework, it will assist in managing the Bank's operations and economic capital more efficiently and enhance the transparency of its accounts."
Mr Crockett added that the changes would not affect the fundamental nature of the BIS's banking activities and would not have any implication for its policy towards its holdings of gold.
Page 1 of 1SDR to replace gold franc at the BIS
3/3/2013http://www.bis.org/press/p030311d.htm
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COMMENTS QUEUE
Algeria to Contribute $5 Billion to IMF
Through SDRs, APS Says
Algeria will contribute $5 billion to the International Monetary Fund through the purchase of
Special Drawing Rights, the state-run APS news agency reported today, citing a statement
by the Finance Ministry and the Bank of Algeria.
The North African nation’s foreign-exchange reserves reached $193.7 billion at the end of
September, Prime Minister Abdelmalek Sellal said on Oct. 1.
To contact the reporter on this story: Salah Slimani via Cairo at [email protected]
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Andrew J. Barden at [email protected]
Bloomberg moderates all comments. Comments that are abusive or off-topic will not be posted to the site. Excessively long comments may be moderated as well. Bloomberg cannot facilitate requests to remove comments or explain individual moderation decisions.
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Page 1 of 2Algeria to Contribute $5 Billion to IMF Through SDRs, APS Says - Bloomberg
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3/3/2013http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-10-11/algeria-to-contribute-5-billion-to-imf-through...
COMMENTARY
Can IMF Currency Replace
the Dollar?
By Swaminathan S. Anklesaria Aiyar (/people/swaminathan-anklesaria-aiyar)
This article appeared in the Times of India (http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/) on
April 5, 2009.
W orld leaders at the G-20 meeting agreed to create new
international money worth $250 billion. The IMF will
oversee the new money called SDRs (Special Drawing
Rights). Some people believe — and China fervently hopes — that SDRs will
in due course replace the dollar as the main world reserve currency.
I, however, am a sceptic. I doubt if the amount of SDRs will ever rival the
dollar, euro or yen. Far from becoming a separate international currency,
the SDR will remain a derivative of the dollar and a few other major
national currencies.
Before World War I, most countries were on the gold standard: currency
issue was tied to the gold held in their reserves. A country whose gold
holdings fell, had to shrink its money supply too. Such stiff discipline meant
inflation was close to zero: governments could not print notes at will. But
governments needed huge spending in World War I and so gave up the gold
standard for the printing press. Besides, the bulk of gold production came
from Russia and South Africa, and others refused to be at the mercy of
those two countries for future money supply.
Page 1 of 4Can IMF Currency Replace the Dollar? | Cato Institute
3/3/2013http://www.cato.org/publications/commentary/can-imf-currency-replace-dollar
Resort to printing presses started a century of unprecedented inflation.
Today, governments cannot contemplate being anchored to gold — that
would leave them no flexibility to do things that voters demand. Voters also
complain about inflation. But they prefer do-something governments plus
inflation to do-nothing governments with stable prices.
The abandonment of the gold standard was not exactly a success. The Great
Depression arrived in 1929. Competitive devaluations by different countries
caused world trade to sink by almost 80%. So, in 1944, major market
economies gathered at Bretton Woods to devise a post-war monetary
system. British economist J M Keynes favoured a new international
currency, Bancor, anchored in 30 commodities. But there was no political
will to give up the printing press. Instead, the new international system was
anchored in the dollar, the only currency convertible to gold, with the
exchange rates of other currencies overseen by the IMF.
However, the US resented being the only country tied to gold, and gave up
that link in 1971. After that, all currencies floated against one another.
Countries kept forex reserves mainly in dollars, but also in sterling, yen,
and euros.
Recently, the US has ceased to dominate the world economy. It has run up
record trade deficits and gargantuan foreign debt. China and other
countries hold trillions of dollars in their forex reserves. With Obama
printing trillions of dollars to stimulate the US economy, China fears that
the dollar — and China’s own reserves — will crash. Hence, China wants
SDRs as a rival reserve currency, phasing out the dollar.
Others like India are also keen on a fresh issue of SDRs to improve cash
availability at a time when global lenders have withdrawn from developing
countries. New SDRs could be one more stimulus for the sagging world
economy.
Page 2 of 4Can IMF Currency Replace the Dollar? | Cato Institute
3/3/2013http://www.cato.org/publications/commentary/can-imf-currency-replace-dollar
The IMF has since 1970 issued only 21.4 billion SDRs, worth $32 billion at
today’s exchange rate. The proposed new issue worth $250 billion will be
far larger. Yet, it pales in comparison with trillions of dollars held in forex
reserves globally.
SDRs will probably be issued to countries in proportion to their IMF
quotas. If so, two-thirds of new SDRs will go to rich developed countries.
India will get just 2%, China just 3.7%. Hence, SDRs will hardly dent dollar
dominance in global reserves or liquidity.
Many US and German politicians oppose SDR creation saying it is “funny
money” that will ultimately cause inflation. The Wall Street Journal
opposes SDR creation because this will benefit political foes like Venezuela
($840 million), Iran ($465 million), Sudan ($100 million), Zimbabwe ($115
million), Syria ($90 million) and Myanmar ($80 million). Even if Obama
persuades US Congress to approve the proposed $250 billion worth of
SDRs, Congress will strongly oppose SDR creation on a scale big enough to
rival the dollar as a reserve currency.
Finally, readers should understand that the SDR is not a currency at all. It
is simply a potential claim on four national currencies. The SDR is linked to
a basket of currencies with a weight of 44% for the dollar, 34% for the euro,
and 11% each for the yen and pound sterling. If India wants to use its SDRs,
it will typically ask the IMF for dollars in exchange. The IMF will debit
India’s SDR account, credit America’s SDR account, ask the US for the
corresponding dollars, and hand these to India.
So, SDRs are anchored in four existing currencies, and do not constitute an
independent new currency. Nor will major powers allow the IMF to create a
new currency independent of existing ones, anchored perhaps in gold. No
politician wants to grant supra-national status to the IMF in money
creation. The SDR is allowed in small quantities as a derivative of existing
currencies. That’s all.
Page 3 of 4Can IMF Currency Replace the Dollar? | Cato Institute
3/3/2013http://www.cato.org/publications/commentary/can-imf-currency-replace-dollar
For now, the dollar remains supreme. One day the Chinese yuan and Indian
rupee may become fully convertible, and join the list of reserve currencies.
That may diminish dollar dominance. But SDRs will remain peripheral.
(/people/swaminathan
-anklesaria-aiyar)
Swaminathan S. Anklesaria Aiyar
(http://www.cato.org/people/swaminathan-anklesaria-
aiyar) is a research fellow at the Cato Institute’s Center
for Global Liberty and Prosperity.
PRINTED FROM CATO.ORG
Page 4 of 4Can IMF Currency Replace the Dollar? | Cato Institute
3/3/2013http://www.cato.org/publications/commentary/can-imf-currency-replace-dollar
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Page 2 of 4BIS sceptical on reserves role for SDR - Central Banking
3/3/2013http://www.centralbanking.com/central-banking/news/1719617/bis-sceptical-reserves-role-sdr
Where am I? Home News Central Banks Reserves
News
BIS sceptical on reserves role for SDR
Trying to create global currency from accounting unit would not solve problems highlighted by the crisis
Author:Central Banking Newsdesk
Source: Central Banking | 28 Jun 2010
Categories: Reserves, Financial Stability
Topics:Bank for International Settlements
• Tweet
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Greater use of the special drawing right (SDR) would fail to solve the funding problems associated with the
dollar's dominance as the global reserve currency, the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) has warned.
"The principal concern for monetary authorities during periods of crisis is ensuring the availability of sufficient
funds in the international currency whichever it is," the BIS said in its Annual Report, out Monday. "Currently it
is the dollar, and to a much lesser extent, the Swiss franc and the euro. The emergence of some other dominant
international currency or currencies (actual or virtual) would not change the nature of the problem."
Page 3 of 4BIS sceptical on reserves role for SDR - Central Banking
3/3/2013http://www.centralbanking.com/central-banking/news/1719617/bis-sceptical-reserves-role-sdr
The report added: "Use of an international currency, such as the SDR, which is based on a basket of national
currencies [the euro, dollar, yen and sterling], will not solve this problem. In fact, it makes it more complicated:
officials in countries whose currencies make up the basket would tend to view the unconditional issuance of the
composite unit no differently from the unconditional issuance of their own currencies."
The SDR is an international reserve asset, created by the IMF in 1969 to supplement the existing official
reserves of member countries. SDRs are allocated to member countries in proportion to their IMF quotas. The
SDR also serves as the unit of account of the IMF and some other international organisations, including the BIS.
In March last year, Zhou Xiaochuan, the governor of the People's Bank of China, urged countries to adopt the
SDR as an international reserve currency as part of a move towards a more stable global monetary order.
Dollar's dominance
The financial crisis highlighted foreign banks' reliance on short-term dollar funding. During the turmoil, this
reliance forced some central banks to intervene using their foreign-exchange reserves. However, the BIS noted,
these reserves eventually needed to be supplemented with foreign-exchange swap lines, particularly from the
Federal Reserve.
The BIS acknowledged that this presented problems. "Any central bank's ability to provide liquidity in a foreign
currency is limited, given that foreign currency holdings are finite. Further, the issuer of an international
currency cannot be expected to provide liquidity insurance unconditionally."
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Page 4 of 4BIS sceptical on reserves role for SDR - Central Banking
3/3/2013http://www.centralbanking.com/central-banking/news/1719617/bis-sceptical-reserves-role-sdr
Home About the IMF Research Country Info News Videos Data and Statistics Publications
SDRs per Currency unit and Currency units per SDR
last five days1
Exchange Rate Archives
Download this file
TSV -- TSV tips
SDRs per Currency unit 2
March 03, 2013
March 01, 2013
February 28, 2013
February 27, 2013
February 26, 2013
Euro 0.8623490000 0.8666980000 0.8648920000 0.8644330000
Japanese Yen 0.0071635500 0.0071381900 0.0071834400 0.0071463000
U.K. Pound Sterling 0.9962120000 1.0028800000 0.9988820000 1.0009400000
U.S. Dollar 0.6633450000 0.6601400000 0.6603740000 0.6610330000
Algerian Dinar 0.0084308400 0.0084248600 0.0084170300 0.0084182200
Argentine Peso
Australian Dollar 0.6787350000 0.6782940000 0.6745060000 0.6792110000
Bahrain Dinar 1.7642200000 1.7556900000 1.7563100000 1.7580700000
Botswana Pula 0.0813924000 0.0818574000 0.0823486000 0.0825630000
Brazilian Real 0.3358030000 0.3332860000 0.3332190000 0.3359590000
Brunei Dollar 0.5362100000 0.5339640000 0.5335920000 0.5335640000
Canadian Dollar 0.6449640000 0.6418470000 0.6442670000 0.6430280000
Chilean Peso 0.0014025400 0.0013947600 0.0013948400 0.0013974700
Chinese Yuan 0.1056320000 0.1051530000 0.1050850000 0.1051660000
Colombian Peso 0.0003656240 0.0003634290 0.0003631340 0.0003659980
Czech Koruna 0.0335888000 0.0338100000 0.0337356000 0.0338228000
Danish Krone 0.1156560000 0.1162420000 0.1159890000 0.1158930000
Hungarian Forint 0.0029311300 0.0029235600 0.0029169800 0.0029510400
Icelandic Krona 0.0053379300 0.0052458700 0.0052294400 0.0052062100
Indian Rupee 0.0121756000 0.0122763000 0.0122666000 0.0122267000
Indonesian Rupiah 0.0000685415 0.0000682880 0.0000681923 0.0000681126
Iranian Rial 0.0000541064 0.0000538450 0.0000538641 0.0000539179
Israeli New Sheqel 0.1781750000 0.1780310000 0.1771390000 0.1770780000
Kazakhstani Tenge 0.0044058500 0.0043901000 0.0043893300 0.0043980900
Korean Won 0.0006111530 0.0006082000 0.0006069610 0.0006079020
Kuwaiti Dinar 2.3427300000 2.3314100000 2.3301800000 2.3445000000
Libyan Dinar 0.5174910000 0.5174910000 0.5174910000 0.5174910000
Malaysian Ringgit 0.2143970000 0.2134990000 0.2130580000 0.2130650000
Mauritian Rupee 0.0214199000 0.0214548000 0.0215053000
Mexican Peso 0.0518190000 0.0516562000 0.0514623000 0.0513703000
Nepalese Rupee 0.0076255300 0.0076751500 0.0076246900 0.0076552800
New Zealand Dollar 0.5471270000 0.5465960000 0.5443460000 0.5504420000
Norwegian Krone 0.1152020000 0.1157610000 0.1158290000 0.1158830000
Rial Omani 1.7252100000 1.7168800000 1.7174900000 1.7192000000
Pakistani Rupee 0.0067522800 0.0067230400 0.0067274200 0.0067295300
What's New Site Map Site Index Contact Us Glossary
Page 1 of 3SDRs per Currency unit and Currency units per SDR -- last five days
3/3/2013http://www.imf.org/external/np/fin/data/rms_five.aspx
Nuevo Sol 0.2553730000 0.2559590000 0.2559170000
Philippine Peso 0.0163136000 0.0162053000 0.0162111000 0.0162400000
Polish Zloty 0.2088030000 0.2083840000 0.2073970000 0.2083110000
Qatar Riyal 0.1822380000 0.1813570000 0.1814210000 0.1816020000
Russian Ruble 0.0216510000 0.0216351000 0.0215666000 0.0216102000
Saudi Arabian Riyal 0.1768920000 0.1760370000 0.1761000000 0.1762750000
Singapore Dollar 0.5362100000 0.5339640000 0.5335920000 0.5335640000
South African Rand 0.0729660000 0.0737710000 0.0743857000 0.0749581000
Sri Lanka Rupee 0.0052042200 0.0051781500 0.0051796600 0.0051928600
Swedish Krona 0.1032040000 0.1025830000 0.1024760000 0.1021140000
Swiss Franc 0.7052360000 0.7092180000 0.7098510000 0.7106350000
Thai Baht 0.0222973000 0.0221546000 0.0221439000 0.0221377000
Trinidad And Tobago Dollar 0.1039370000 0.1031500000 0.1029310000 0.1033040000
Tunisian Dinar 0.4219480000 0.4177840000 0.4180640000 0.4219810000
U.A.E. Dirham 0.1806250000 0.1797520000 0.1798160000 0.1799950000
Peso Uruguayo 0.0347119000 0.0345370000 0.0345348000 0.0345692000
Bolivar Fuerte 0.1055580000 0.1050480000 0.1050850000 0.1051900000
Currency units per SDR 3
March 03,
2013
March 01, 2013
February 28, 2013
February 27, 2013
February 26, 2013
Euro 1.159620 1.153800 1.156210 1.156830
Japanese Yen 139.596000 140.092000 139.209000 139.933000
U.K. Pound Sterling 1.003800 0.997128 1.001120 0.999061
U.S. Dollar 1.507510 1.514830 1.514290 1.512780
Algerian Dinar 118.612000 118.696000 118.807000 118.790000
Argentine Peso
Australian Dollar 1.473330 1.474290 1.482570 1.472300
Bahrain Dinar 0.566823 0.569577 0.569376 0.568806
Botswana Pula 12.286200 12.216400 12.143500 12.112000
Brazilian Real 2.977940 3.000430 3.001030 2.976550
Brunei Dollar 1.864940 1.872790 1.874090 1.874190
Canadian Dollar 1.550470 1.558000 1.552150 1.555140
Chilean Peso 712.992000 716.969000 716.928000 715.579000
Chinese Yuan 9.466830 9.509950 9.516110 9.508780
Colombian Peso 2,735.050000 2,751.570000 2,753.800000 2,732.260000
Czech Koruna 29.771800 29.577000 29.642300 29.565900
Danish Krone 8.646330 8.602740 8.621510 8.628650
Hungarian Forint 341.165000 342.049000 342.820000 338.864000
Icelandic Krona 187.339000 190.626000 191.225000 192.078000
Indian Rupee 82.131500 81.457800 81.522200 81.788200
Indonesian Rupiah 14,589.700000 14,643.900000 14,664.400000 14,681.600000
Iranian Rial 18,482.100000 18,571.800000 18,565.200000 18,546.700000
Israeli New Sheqel 5.612460 5.617000 5.645280 5.647230
Kazakhstani Tenge 226.971000 227.785000 227.825000 227.371000
Korean Won 1,636.250000 1,644.200000 1,647.550000 1,645.000000
Kuwaiti Dinar 0.426852 0.428925 0.429151 0.426530
Libyan Dinar 1.932400 1.932400 1.932400 1.932400
Page 2 of 3SDRs per Currency unit and Currency units per SDR -- last five days
3/3/2013http://www.imf.org/external/np/fin/data/rms_five.aspx
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Malaysian Ringgit 4.664240 4.683860 4.693560 4.693400
Mauritian Rupee 46.685600 46.609600 46.500200
Mexican Peso 19.297900 19.358800 19.431700 19.466500
Nepalese Rupee 131.138000 130.291000 131.153000 130.629000
New Zealand Dollar 1.827730 1.829500 1.837070 1.816720
Norwegian Krone 8.680400 8.638490 8.633420 8.629390
Rial Omani 0.579640 0.582452 0.582245 0.581666
Pakistani Rupee 148.098000 148.742000 148.645000 148.599000
Nuevo Sol 3.915840 3.906880 3.907520
Philippine Peso 61.298500 61.708200 61.686100 61.576400
Polish Zloty 4.789200 4.798830 4.821670 4.800510
Qatar Riyal 5.487330 5.513990 5.512040 5.506550
Russian Ruble 46.187200 46.221200 46.368000 46.274400
Saudi Arabian Riyal 5.653170 5.680620 5.678590 5.672950
Singapore Dollar 1.864940 1.872790 1.874090 1.874190
South African Rand 13.705000 13.555500 13.443400 13.340800
Sri Lanka Rupee 192.152000 193.119000 193.063000 192.572000
Swedish Krona 9.689550 9.748200 9.758380 9.792980
Swiss Franc 1.417970 1.410000 1.408750 1.407190
Thai Baht 44.848500 45.137400 45.159200 45.171800
Trinidad And Tobago Dollar 9.621210 9.694620 9.715250 9.680170
Tunisian Dinar 2.369960 2.393580 2.391980 2.369770
U.A.E. Dirham 5.536330 5.563220 5.561240 5.555710
Peso Uruguayo 28.808600 28.954500 28.956300 28.927500
Bolivar Fuerte 9.473460 9.519460 9.516110 9.506610
Notes:
(1) Exchange rates are published daily except on IMF holidays or whenever the IMF is closed for business.
(2) The value of the U.S. dollar in terms of the SDR is the reciprocal of the sum of the dollar values, based on market exchange rates, of specified quantities of the first four currencies shown. See SDR Valuation. The value in terms of the SDR of each of the other currencies shown above is derived from that currency's representative exchange rate against the U.S. dollar as reported by the issuing central bank and the SDR value of the U.S. dollar, except for the Iranian rial and the Libyan dinar, the values of which are officially expressed directly in terms of domestic currency units per SDR. All figures are rounded to six significant digits. See Representative Exchange Rates for Selected Currencies.
(3) The value in terms of each national currency of the SDR is the reciprocal of the value in terms of the SDR of each national currency, rounded to six significant digits.
Disclaimer
The International Monetary Fund makes no warranties, express or implied, regarding these tables or the performance of this site. The IMF shall not be liable for any losses or damages incurred in connection with this site.
Page 3 of 3SDRs per Currency unit and Currency units per SDR -- last five days
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SDR Valuation
The currency value of the SDR is determined by summing the values in U.S. dollars, based on market exchange rates, of a basket of major currencies (the U.S. dollar, Euro, Japanese yen, and pound sterling). The SDR currency value is calculated daily (except on IMF holidays or whenever the IMF is closed for business) and the valuation basket is reviewed and adjusted every five years.
Currency Amounts in New Special Drawing Rights (SDR) Basket
Download SDR
valuation history
XLS
SDR rates as of: March 1 2013 Go
Friday, March 01, 2013
CurrencyCurrency amount under Rule O-1 Exchange rate 1 U.S. dollar equivalent
Percent change in exchange rate against U.S. dollar from
previous calculation
Euro 0.4230 1.30180 0.550661 -0.762
Japanese yen 12.1000 92.97000 0.130150 -0.882
Pound sterling 0.1110 1.50180 0.166700 -1.145
U.S. dollar 0.6600 1.00000 0.660000
1.507511
U.S.$1.00 = SDR 0.663345 2 0.486 3
SDR1 = US$ 1.50751 4
Footnotes
1 The exchange rate for the Japanese yen is expressed in terms of currency units per U.S. dollar; other rates are expressed as U.S. dollars per currency unit.
2 IMF Rule O-2(a) defines the value of the U.S. dollar in terms of the SDR as the reciprocal of the sum of the equivalents in U.S. dollars of the amounts of the currencies in the SDR basket, rounded to six significant digits. Each U.S. dollar equivalent is calculated on the basis of the middle rate between the buying and selling exchange rates at noon in the London market. If the exchange rate for any currency cannot be obtained from the London Market, the rate shall be the middle rate between the buying and selling exchange rates at noon in the New York market or, if not available there, the rate shall be determined on the basis of euro reference rates published by the European Central Bank.
3 Percent change in value of one U.S. dollar in terms of SDRs from previous calculation.
4 The reciprocal of the value of the U.S dollar in terms of the SDR, rounded to six significant digits.
Related Links
IMF FinancesIMF Lending Factsheet
Financial Data by CountryGlossary
Disclaimer
The International Monetary Fund makes no warranties, express or implied, regarding these tables or the performance of this site. The IMF shall not be liable for any losses or damages incurred in connection with this site.
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Page 2 of 2SDR Valuation
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IMF, special drawing rights (XDR)NOK per 1 XDR
Monthly average of daily figures. Annual average of daily figures.
Exchange rate
01.03.2013 8.68040
28.02.2013 8.63847
27.02.2013 8.63344
26.02.2013 8.62937
25.02.2013 8.52159
22.02.2013 8.58549
21.02.2013 8.60120
20.02.2013 8.44792
19.02.2013 8.47436
18.02.2013 8.46317
15.02.2013 8.47077
14.02.2013 8.42595
13.02.2013 8.38054
12.02.2013 8.41312
11.02.2013 8.43049
08.02.2013 8.47206
07.02.2013 8.43647
06.02.2013 8.43128
05.02.2013 8.42398
04.02.2013 8.43135
01.02.2013 8.40570
31.01.2013 8.45746
30.01.2013 8.45923
29.01.2013 8.47700
28.01.2013 8.50310
25.01.2013 8.46711
24.01.2013 8.52099
23.01.2013 8.53439
22.01.2013 8.58944
21.01.2013 8.57419
Page 1 of 2IMF, special drawing rights (XDR) - Norges Bank
3/3/2013http://www.norges-bank.no/en/prisstabilitet/valutakurser/xdr/
18.01.2013 8.60289
17.01.2013 8.52344
16.01.2013 8.59643
15.01.2013 8.54844
14.01.2013 8.49411
11.01.2013 8.50239
10.01.2013 8.51444
09.01.2013 8.57448
08.01.2013 8.57660
07.01.2013 8.55760
04.01.2013 8.55374
03.01.2013 8.53470
02.01.2013 8.49825
01.01.2013 NA
31.12.2012 8.55511
28.12.2012 8.55434
27.12.2012 8.57080
26.12.2012 NA
25.12.2012 NA
24.12.2012 NA
21.12.2012 8.54250
20.12.2012 8.59124
19.12.2012 8.56955
18.12.2012 8.63929
17.12.2012 8.62894
14.12.2012 8.66123
13.12.2012 8.61628
12.12.2012 8.63494
11.12.2012 8.66818
10.12.2012 8.67596
07.12.2012 8.70075
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Page 2 of 2IMF, special drawing rights (XDR) - Norges Bank
3/3/2013http://www.norges-bank.no/en/prisstabilitet/valutakurser/xdr/