Angolan banks 'forced' to reveal where and how they get the dollars they put up for sale on Bloomberg FXGo.

The international market is demanding that users of the Bloomberg FXGO tool for currency trading integrate with a new, more demanding platform. The new model comes from Singapore and is called Bloomberg Tradebook Singapore (BTBS). In other words, from now on, banks that already operate on Bloomberg FXGO will have to prove the origin of the funds to be traded, reveal who their clients are and how they do business. The aim is to strengthen compliance.

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The 23 commercial banks operating in Angola are now obliged, since last week, to join Bloomberg Tradebook Singapore (BTBS), a new platform for buying and selling currency associated with Bloomberg FXGO that reinforces the control of operations, origins of funds traded and who are the recipients of the funds sold, according to a circular letter issued by the National Bank of Angola (BNA) and distributed to all players in the country. domestic market.

Justifying the tightening of the rules is the need to better control operations, such as how banks get their money in foreign currency, who their customers are and for what purpose the coins are dispatched. 

To Kieto Economia, a source from the BNA's management explains that, with this obligation, banks will see operations more surveilled. If in the past anyone could sell currency to commercial banks and they passed it on to the market, through Bloomberg, those days have come to an end.

That is, from now on, the owners of the platform, and by obligation of international conventions, want everything explained in detail: who sold, who bought and at what rates these coins were dispatched. 

According to the circular letter, this new mechanism arises from the need to ensure the compliance requirements of the participants of the Bloomberg FXGO Platform at a global level, so changes to the trading platform for the Money and Foreign Exchange markets are planned.

"Bloomberg Tradebook Singapore Pte Ltd ("Tradebook Singapore") has been developed based on the state-of-the-art technology of Bloomberg's various trading platforms and is already used by more than 1,000 institutions worldwide, thus making BTBS a global trading platform that provides eligible participants with access to quotation and trading functionality for various asset classes.  including bonds and shares, as well as rates, credit derivatives, foreign exchange and commodities," reads the circular letter to which we had access.

Thus, Angolan banking operators trading on the Bloomberg FXGO platform have until December 31 of this year to close the integration with BTBS. 

The BNA clarifies that banks that, by this period, do not close the integration, are prevented from trading currencies in the market through Bloomberg FXGO. In other words, they will not be able to buy or sell foreign currency in the market, which will mean a reduction in operations since most banks in Angola survive on this business. 

The Angolan central bank also explains that integration into the BTBS platform does not entail any cost, except for market participants who do not have an LEI Code (Legal Entity Identifier - LEI Code), which consists of a unique and permanent alphanumeric code, consisting of 20 characters and which allows the identification, unequivocally at an international level, of any participant in the financial markets,  thereby contributing to transparency and increased trust in counterparties to financial transactions, as well as mitigating the risks of market abuse, financial fraud, money laundering and terrorist financing.