Standard Chartered's corporate customers in Qatar will have access to some 130 global trade currencies following the bank’s launch of "enhanced online" banking foreign exchange services through a secure platform, Straight2Bank.

This added feature allows clients to access international trade currencies at a touch of a button within Straight2Bank, making currency payments for Middle East-Asia and intra-Middle East trade relationships faster and executed in a currency of choice.

The bank said the product innovation saves clients’ unnecessary costs in currency conversions, and avoids the inherent risks associated with fluctuating currency rates – a challenge most traders face when dealing with trade partners outside of their economies.

The “RFQ” or “request for quote” feature allows customers to avoid the onerous process of calling for currency quotations from a bank’s local treasury desk, in order to trade in a company’s currency of choice.

Ashutosh Kumar, global head of corporate cash and trade product management, Standard Chartered, said: “This value added service is a demonstration of our commitment to enable the burgeoning trade flow between our clients in Asia, Africa, the Middle East and the rest of the world; supporting our clients in their drive to connect with their trading partners in any part of the world.”

Haytham El Maayergi, head, transaction banking UAE, said: “Our corporate clients in the UAE, Bahrain, Oman and Qatar as well as a number of other international markets in our footprint, will have immediate access to these product innovations, without incurring setup costs or installation delays – all via our secure online banking portal.”


Indian curb on gold import upsets NRIs

India’s recent decision to tighten gold import rules has come in as a major setback for NRIs who buy the yellow metal for personal use or invest in it as a safe haven.
Indian customs department has been asked to search inbound travellers at sea and airports for gold or finished jewellery, which are subject to a special import levy, it is learnt.

Non-Resident Indians (NRIs), including non-resident foreign citizens of Indian origin, are liable to tax if they bring in the country gold valued at more than Rs10,000 (about QR660) and Rs20,000 (QR1,320) for men and women respectively.

For gold beyond this permissible limit, NRIs have to declare and pay duty on the excess amount.

Gold was trading at QR185 per gram for 24 carat and QR170 for 22 carat in the local market yesterday.

Reports suggest the curb on gold imports to India is aimed at containing trade deficit, which ballooned to $ 148.7bn early this year, amid a slowdown in the country’s economic output.

Gold imports in the country have gone up from $ 40bn in 2010 to $ 58bn in 2011, a jump of 45% while the volume has grown marginally from 963 tonnes to 969 tonnes in 2011. This is on the back of 30-35% increase in gold prices in the last one year.

India’s baggage rules state that NRIs may bring gold into India once every six months, providing they have remained abroad for a full six months.

“The law that is being implemented now is more than 50 years old when the gold price was Rs40 for a gram. In 1960 a male passenger could bring 250gm of gold and a woman 500gm of gold without paying tax,” wrote K V Shamsudheen, chairman of the UAE-based Pravasi Bandhu Trust in a recent letter to Gulf Times.

“With the current high gold prices, most Indian women will end up paying customs duty at airports in India,” a source said.

“When a non-resident Indian brings gold to the country, the government is getting it without the loss of foreign currency paid for its import. Instead of encouraging NRIs to bring gold to the country, the reintroduction of half-a-century old law will be seen as a way to harass the non-resident Indians,” points out Shamsudheen.

He also requested India’s Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to intervene in the issue and permit non-resident Indians to bring at least 100gm of gold for males and 200gm for females without tax.

A local jeweller said that “he was only gauging the impact” of the recent Indian curbs on gold imports.

“As of now I have not seen anything drastic that affects my business, though Indians constitute the largest block among my consumers,” the jeweller said.