BERD sustine introducerea noului indice ROBOR

EBRD press release:rnrnEBRD offers full support to updated ROBOR money-market index in Romania rnrnThe EBRD fully supports the introduction of an updated Romanian money market index which is a major step forward for the country’s capital markets, providing for greater transparency and credibility. rnrnThe improved index was launched on 6 March 2008 by the National Bank of Romania and, over time, it will help in the development of new financial instruments in the local Romanian currency, adding to the depth of the market. In particular, the increased transparency should stimulate the confidence of market participants in pricing domestic Romanian interest-rate products.rnrnThe ROBOR index, which has replaced the previous BUBOR index, will be managed by the National Bank of Romania and involves the following key features:rnrno A commitment by banks to maintain bid/offer spreads between ROBOR and ROBID of 50 basis points up to 3 month maturities and 75 basis points up to 12 months;rnrno A commitment by banks to submit prices based on firm commitments to trade with each other on the basis of these quotes;rnrno A change in value date from same-day to spot (T+2) for maturities greater than one week to conform to international market practice;rnrno The calculation by Reuters will continue to take place at 11:00am Bucharest time each business day and will be the arithmetic mean of rates posted by each participant after discarding the highest and lowest rates.rnrnThe quoting banks will be ABN Amro, Bancpost, Banca Transilvania, BRD Groupe Société Générale, BCR, CEC, EximBank, ING, Raiffeisen Bank and UniCredit Tiriac Bank. The ROBOR/ROBID rates will be quoted on Reuters pages RBOR, RBOR1 and RBOR2 and each participant’s quote is made public on the screens.rnrnEBRD’s Vice President Finance Manfred Schepers said that the EBRD has been working with the National Bank of Romania and with the banking community in Bucharest, largely through the dealers’ association ACI Romania, over the past year to support these changes which should bring increased transparency and credibility to the Romanian money-market. The changes should also allow for the creation of a derivatives market in Romanian Leu over time. EBRD welcomes the new index which will be incorporated into the Bank’s loan documentation, Mr Schepers added.rnrnThe EBRD is the largest institutional investor in Romania, with €3.5 billion committed to 247 projects across the country. Working with its many partners, the Bank has mobilized more than €6 billion for projects in Romania.rn