NBU toughens reserve requirements, moves to spur FX T-bill demand

The National Bank of Ukraine toughened the obligatory reserve requirement for banks by increasing the reserve ratio by 1.5 pp to 10.0% for FX-denominated current deposits and by 1 pp to 9.0% for FX long-term deposits. Reserve requirements related to hryvnya deposits remained unchanged at 0%. Additionally, the NBU increased the portion of obligatory reserves that banks have to keep on their correspondent accounts with the central bank each day to 50% from 40% previously. The central bank also said it will treat 10% of banks’ holdings of local FX T-bills as part of their obligatory reserves.

Vitaliy Vavryshchuk: The NBU’s decision to toughen monetary conditions comes in response to growing volatility in the local FX market. Via the increase in reserve requirements, the central bank intends to make free hryvnya less accessible for FX trading by banks. In addition, the new requirements also aim to discourage banks from taking FX deposits for purposes other than for buying local FX T-bills. The fact that 10% of bank holdings of local T-bills will be treated as part of the obligatory reserves will likely create additional demand for government securities, which in the short-term is positive for NBU reserves. Needless to say, the recently announced decisions will further depress bank lending – banks’ combined loan book decreased 0.3% in 5M12 and chances for a revival in the coming months are virtually zero.