Jun.07, 2010, 10:27 AM EDT
June 7 (Bloomberg) -- Venezuela’s central bank will publish a trading band in bolivars on a daily basis for banks to participate in a currency market through the buying and selling of dollar-denominated securities, according to a resolution in the Official Gazette.
The banks will be required to send the central bank information on the transactions in the currency market, known as the Foreign Currency Bond Trading System, or SITME, the resolution said. The central bank will be able to authorize and suspend operators from the market when deemed necessary.
President Hugo Chavez suspended trading in the local market on May 18 and dismantled the unregulated currency market as part of an investigation into possible money laundering through bond swaps that brokerages performed for clients in order to obtain foreign currency. The central bank will now oversee the currency market as authorized banks negotiate securities on behalf of their clients at a government-set exchange rate.
The central bank will publish a separate resolution to provide guidelines for the market, according to the Official Gazette.
Venezuelans turned to the unregulated currency market when they couldn’t get approval from the government to buy dollars at the official rates of 2.6 and 4.3 per dollar.
Chavez moved to close the unregulated market after the bolivar slid 27 percent to a record low of 8.2 per dollar on May 11 and blamed currency speculators for an inflation spike in April.
The central bank will allow companies and individuals to participate in SITME through the intermediation of their banks and will set a $1,000 minimum bid, according to a statement posted on the bank’s website today. The central bank didn’t say when trading will begin.