Taiwan allows Cargill to repatriate $2 bln frozen in currency speculation case -sources
29/03/2021 07:00
TAIPEI, March 29 (Reuters) - Taiwan's central bank has
allowed U.S.-based commodities house Cargill Ltd CARGIL.UL to
repatriate around $2 billion that had been frozen as part of an
investigation into currency manipulation, four people with
direct knowledge told Reuters.
The central bank last month punished four foreign banks,
including Deutsche Bank DBKGn.DE for helping grains firms
speculate in the deliverable forwards foreign exchange market,
as it moved to slow the Taiwan dollar's rise. urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N2KD035
Speaking on condition of anonymity, as they were not
authorised to speak to journalists, sources told Reuters that
Cargill was one of the main grains companies involved. The
central bank has not named Cargill in its communications on the
matter.
The central bank declined to comment. Cargill did not
immediately respond to a request for comment outside regular
U.S. business hours.
The deal to get roughly $2 billion of funds due to Cargill
and one of its fully-owned subsidiaries out of Taiwan came after
eight months of negotiations with the central bank, sources
said.
The Taiwan dollar TWD=TP is at its highest in more than 23
years against the U.S. dollar as the island's trade-dependent
economy booms on global demand for its tech products, fuelled by
people working from home amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Taiwan's central bank has been particularly concerned about
grain companies engaging in currency speculation through
deliverable forwards.
The central bank has previously said that starting from July
2019, eight grains trading companies ostensibly carrying out
routine currency transactions for their business had in fact
engaged in currency speculation, and as a result affected the
stability of Taiwan's foreign exchange market. urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N2JW0M5
It put the total value of the trades at $11 billion.
(Reporting by Liang-sa Loh; Writing by Ben Blanchard; Editing
by Kenneth Maxwell)
((ben.blanchard@thomsonreuters.com;))