Global banks unwind India currency trades worth billions after RBI warning

Foreign banks have been forced to unwind billions of dollars worth of profitable currency trades at the behest of India’s central bank, according to people with knowledge of the matter.

The issue in focus is a flurry of currency swap trades that involved the banks converting rupee-denominated deposits into dollars that were then used to buy foreign sovereign debt including U.S. Treasuries, which are unlisted in India. The Reserve Bank of India warned the banks of a regulatory breach last week, saying they must limit their holdings of such unlisted securities to no more than 10% of investments classified as