Singapore, 3 February 2009...On 30 October 2008, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) joined global central banks in establishing a temporary reciprocal currency arrangement (swap line) of US$30 billion with the US Federal Reserve. The swap facilities allow the Federal Reserve to provide US dollar liquidity to financial institutions through central banks in sound, well-managed and systemically important financial centres to help to improve liquidity conditions in global financial markets and to mitigate the spread of difficulties in obtaining US dollar funding.
2 Today, the Federal Reserve and other central banks extended their temporary reciprocal currency arrangements (swap lines) to 30 October 2009. The extension currently applies to swap lines between the Federal Reserve and thirteen other central banks, the Reserve Bank of Australia, the Banco Central do Brasil, the Bank of Canada, Danmarks Nationalbank, the Bank of England, the European Central Bank, the Bank of Korea, the Banco de Mexico, the Reserve Bank of New Zealand, the Norges Bank, the Monetary Authority of Singapore, the Sveriges Riksbank, and the Swiss National Bank.
3 The swap facility represents on-going co-operation between the Federal Reserve and MAS to enhance the robustness of the US dollar funding and foreign exchange markets in Singapore by reassuring global financial institutions operating in Singapore that they have access to US dollar liquidity. MAS has not needed to draw on the swap facility and judges that it is not necessary to do so at this time, but will continually assess the need as global conditions develop.
4 MAS stands ready to take measures necessary to strengthen the orderly functioning of financial markets and the stability of the financial system in Singapore, and to maintain confidence in Singapore as an international financial centre.
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Note to Editors:
Information on Related Actions by Other Central Banks
Information on swap line arrangements between the Federal Reserve and other central banks is available at the following websites:
Reserve Bank of Australia http://www.rba.gov.au/
Banco Central do Brasil http://www.bcb.gov.br/
Bank of Canada http://www.bankofcanada.ca/
Danmarks Nationalbank http://www.nationalbanken.dk/
Bank of England http://www.bankofengland.co.uk/
European Central Bank http://www.ecb.int/
Federal Reserve System http://www.federalreserve.gov/
Bank of Japan http://www.boj.or.jp/
Bank of Korea http://www.bok.or.kr/
Banco de México http://www.banxico.org.mx/
Reserve Bank of New Zealand http://www.rbnz.govt.nz/
Norges Bank http://www.norges-bank.no/
Sveriges Riksbank http://www.riksbank.com/
Swiss National Bank http://www.snb.ch/