KUALA LUMPUR: Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) governor Datuk Nor Shamsiah Mohd Yunus said the central bank has had positive engagement with global bond index provider FTSE Russell recently.
“We have had a very positive engagement with FTSE Russell when they were in town recently.
“They were very appreciative of the measures that we have put in place to deepen the onshore market so the real money investors would have the required access to hedging onshore,” she told reporters during BNM's second quarter 2019 briefing, here, today.
BNM today announced further liberalisation of the foreign exchange administration (FEA) to improve market liquidity ahead of FTSE Russell’s review in September.
The measures are aimed at providing greater flexibility and efficiency for businesses to better manage their foreign exchange (forex) risk and conduct their daily operation.
In April 2019, it was reported that bond index provider FTSE Russell placed Malaysia under its watch list for six months with another cycle of review slated in September.
This is following its inaugural fixed income country classification review.
FTSE Russell's World Government Bond Index (WGBI) comprises sovereign debt from 23 countries, with only four countries from the Asia Pacific region namely Japan, Australia, Malaysia and Singapore.
Malaysia has been in the index since 2004.
Entry into the WGBI requires several criteria such as minimum credit rating of A- by Standard & Poor’s and A3 by Moody's, as well as Market Accessibility Level of 2 (2: highest; 0: lowest).