Title 12
SECTION 614.4900
614.4900 Foreign exchange.
§ 614.4900 Foreign exchange.(a) Before a bank for cooperatives or an agricultural credit bank may engage in any financial transaction which transports monetary instruments from any place within the United States to or through any place outside the United States or to any place within the United States, the bank must have policies adopted by the bank's board of directors governing such transactions and must have established bank procedures to safeguard the interests of the stockholders of the bank in regard to such transactions.
(b) Under policies adopted by the bank's board of directors, a bank for cooperatives or an agricultural credit bank may engage in currency exchange activities necessary to service individual transactions that may be financed under the regulations authorizing export, import, and other internationally related credit and financial services. These currency exchange activities shall not include any loans or commitments intended to finance speculative futures transactions by eligible borrowers in foreign currencies. The bank may engage, on behalf of the eligible borrowers or on its own behalf, in bona fide hedging transactions and positions, where such transactions or positions normally reduce risks in the conduct and management of international financial activities. The bank's policies should include established guidelines for:
(1) Net overnight positions, by currency.
(2) Maturity distribution, by currency, of foreign currency assets, liabilities, and foreign exchange contracts.
(3) Outstanding contracts with individual customers and banks.
(4) Credit approval procedures safeguarding against delivery or settlement risk.
(5) Total value of outstanding contracts - spot and forward.
(c) A bank for cooperatives or an agricultural credit bank is responsible for its compliance with the laws of the United States in regard to reporting requirements of the Department of the Treasury pertaining to currency exchange activities and international transfers of monetary instruments.
(d) A bank for cooperatives or an agricultural credit bank engaged in foreign exchange trading shall have written policies describing the scope of trading activity authorized, delegation of authority, types of services offered, trading limits, reporting requirements, and internal accounting controls.
(e) The bank's trading guideline policies should provide for reporting procedures adequate to inform management properly of trading activities and to facilitate detection of lack of compliance with policy directives.
(f) The bank's policies shall establish foreign exchange delivery limits for eligible customers with relationship to the customer's financial capability to bear the financial risks assumed. The bank will be expected to maintain documentary evidence that a customer's delivery exposure is reasonable, and that responsible bank officers routinely review outstanding delivery exposure of individual customers.
(g) The bank's personnel policies shall include written standards of conduct for those involved with foreign exchange activities, including the following which should be prohibited:
(1) Trading with entities affiliated with the bank or with members of the board of directors.
(2) Foreign exchange and deposit transactions with other bank employees.
(3) Personal business relationships with foreign exchange and money brokers with whom the bank deals.
(h) The bank's policies should provide detailed instructions regarding the need for bank officers to disclose the limits of responsibility and liability of the bank when it holds positions or executes contracts for the account of eligible parties. The bank's policies regarding the respective procedures should provide reasonable assurance that reports on trading activities are current and complete, and that the opportunity for concealment of unauthorized transactions is kept at the absolute minimum.
(i) The banks for cooperatives and agricultural credit banks shall use the Funding Corporation for purposes of trading foreign exchange. All foreign exchange transactions shall be made by the Funding Corporation on behalf of the banks consistent with instructions received from the respective banks.
(j) Guidelines (b) through (i) of this section will not apply if a bank purchases or sells foreign exchange through a commercial bank and has no foreign exchange risk exposure.
[46 FR 51879, Oct. 22, 1981, as amended at 55 FR 24887, June 19, 1990; 62 FR 4445, Jan. 30, 1997]