RBI Sets Up Working Group On Trading Norms

New Delhi: The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Friday set up a 9-member Working Group to undertake a comprehensive review of trading and settlement timing of financial markets.

The RBI pointed out that over the last few years, there have been several developments including increased electronification of trading, availability of Forex and certain interest rate derivative markets on a 24X5 basis, increased participation of non-residents in domestic financial markets and availability of payment systems on a 24X7 basis. Synchronised and complimentary market and settlement timings across various financial market segments can facilitate benefits of efficient price discovery and optimisation of the liquidity requirements, according to the RBI’s statement.

The working group has representation from various stakeholders and is expected to submit its report by April 30 this year.The Working Group is headed by Radha Shyam Ratho, Executive Director, Reserve Bank of India as Chairperson and has eight other members. These include Ravi Ranjan, Deputy Managing Director, State Bank of India, Lalit Tyagi, Executive Director, Bank of Baroda, Ashish Parthasarthy, Group Head - Treasury, HDFC Bank, Parul Mittal Sinha, Head of financial markets, Standard Chartered Bank, Ashwani Sindhwani, CEO, Foreign Exchange Dealers’ Association of India (FEDAI).

The terms of reference (ToR) for the Working Group are: Review the current trading and settlement timings for various financial markets.