Financial Regulatory Forum

By Vivianne Rodrigues and Ana Nicolaci da Costa

NEW YORK, March 5 (Reuters) – Brazil’s central bank is studying measures to modernize the country’s foreign exchange trading, central bank chief Henrique Meirelles said on Friday.

The measures, mostly technical, seek to make the Brazilian foreign exchange markets more “efficient,” which could also result in an increase in overall flows, Meirelles told journalists.

He said the central bank has recently resumed work on an overhaul of its currency laws, which were set up in the 1930′s when hard currencies were scarce.

Finance Minister Guido Mantega said in February that Brazil had to prepare itself for the local currency, the real, to become a currency of international circulation.

Those comments came after the real rallied around 34 percent last year, inspiring the government to slap a tax on capital inflow into stocks and fixed-income.

By Ana Nicolaci da Costa

BRASILIA, Jan 19 (Reuters) – A standoff between Argentina’s government and central bank has sharpened debate in neighboring Brazil over the need for Congress to pass a bill making the country’s central bank formally independent.

Brazil’s central bank has no legal autonomy but in practice decides monetary policy broadly without political interference. That has allowed its president Henrique Meirelles to pursue conservative monetary policy and keep inflation within a target range for six years. Such policy has earned him world-wide plaudits for his role in Brazil’s economic stability.

But the bank’s autonomy is still subject to political consent and President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva’s willingness to support Meirelles.