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"Russia has ambitions to become a G8 and reserve currency. We have serious doubts about this aim unless Russia reforms its settlement system. The issue is not a technological one but a political one"
Darryl Hooker, Icap |
Rouble moves mainstream
Euromoney March 2007
Market participants are keen to address the settlement problem. "At the start of the year, we met with the Russian central bank and discussed settlement. This is seen by many as the biggest issue in the market," says Darryl Hooker, emerging market manager at Icap Electronic Broking. Following this meeting, Icap hosted a forum in London in April attended by six non-Russian banks, including ABN Amro, Citi, Barclays, Société Générale and RZB.
"With the first forum, we tried to address the simple question of whether settlement really was the issue. The consensus was that it was prohibiting the rouble market’s expansion," says Hooker....
