MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – Mexican financial authorities agreed on Wednesday to apply looser liquidity rules on banks to help them weather the economic and financial turmoil caused by the coronavirus outbreak, the central bank said.
The banking liquidity regulation committee agreed banks may register as liquid assets those that had been eligible until Feb. 28, before markets felt the impact of the virus, the central bank said in a joint statement with other authorities.
The committee also agreed that information from the month of March could be excluded for the calculation of liquidity reserves that institutions must hold.
To avoid imposing an additional burden on financial institutions, the committee decided on temporary exceptions to some corrective measures, the statement said.
The exceptions will be in force for six months, effective from Feb. 28, and may be extended for up to another six months if the central bank and Mexican banking regulator CNBV deem it appropriate.
The committee is chaired by Finance Minister Arturo Herrera, and also includes a handful of top officials drawn from the central bank, the CNBV and the finance ministry.
(Reporting by Sharay Angulo; Editing by Dave Graham and Raju Gopalakrishnan)
