Forex dealers will soon have access to India?s first centralised reporting platform, first-of- its-kind in the country, for the over the counter (OTC) deals in currency options.
Such a platform will provide real time data on volumes as well as rates of options traded. The Clearing Corporation of India (CCIL), after getting an in-principal approval from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), is working closely to develop such a platform for the over the counter (OTC) deals.
A reporting platform for OTC deals, according to forex dealers, will help them take position in currency spot market and will provide lot of information. Confirming the development, Indirani Rao, chief forex officer, CCIL said, ?We will soon launch a platform where banks can report on currency option transactions. It will help create much needed transparency in the OTC market. The centralised platform will also provide information to regulators on the exposure of various entities to this market.The platform will be ready during 2010-11.?
OTC deals currently take place through discussion and negotiation between two counter-parties. The terms and conditions of the trades are deal-specific. Exchange houses like MCX and NSE have just started mock trading for standardised deals in currency options. The United Stock Exchange would soon follow it.
According to PV Rao, treasury head (currency), IndusInd Bank, such a platform will help dealers gauge the movement in spot market, too. ?If a customer is buying put option that means there is a dollar selling interest in the market while if he is buying call option, it signifies dollar buying interest in the market.
Accordingly, we can position in the spot market,? he explains. Meanwhile, large scale participation from banks is seen as the sine qua non for the platform to be effective. Says Rao, ?If you are looking to build a repository, ideally it should be backed by a mandate making it compulsory for banks to report to this platform. If it remains optional, it will defeat the purpose setting up such a platform. We are in talks with RBI for this.?
Mostly private sector and foreign banks participate in the currency option OTC deals . Currently, exact daily average volume is not known due to lack of transparency, which dropped drastically after the sub-prime crisis, dealers said.