| Demystifying Interoperability
Information Systems are today seen as critical to government and business productivity and growth. One of the keys to success in the IT era is the seamless exchange of information across heterogeneous IT infrastructure. As systems connect to each other the issue of interoperability assumes increasing significance and is a top of mind issue for technical and business leaders and policy makers. This article attempts to demystify and clarify some of the grey areas around this subject. Imagine a hypothetical scenario of a business transferring funds from an overseas bank account to their supplier in India. The transfer takes place without the appropriate conversion between the foreign currency and Indian Rupees. Or a landlord, dealing with two different municipal departments, suddenly finding his property tax rates shooting through the roof because one departments system recorded the extent of his property in square meters whilst the other sent the value in square feet! Though these examples are hypothetical, they illustrate the consequences of IT systems failing to communicate or interoperate with each other.
Baht Falls as Bank of Thailand Suggests Lenders Sell Currency
March 27 (Bloomberg) -- The Thai baht dropped against the dollar, extending its slide from a nine-year high, after the Bank of Thailand suggested domestic lenders sell the currency. Deputy Governor Atchana Waiquamdee said today that banks should revert to foreign-exchange positions held on Dec. 31, which preceded a 0.9 percent drop in the baht over two weeks. The currency has since climbed 2.9 percent, eroding exports that account for about 60 percent of gross domestic product. ``The central bank's comments probably caused people who had a speculative position on the appreciation in the baht to close such positions,'' said Hideki Hayashi, a Tokyo-based foreign-exchange strategist at Shinko Securities Co. ``However, in the long term, it is difficult to stop such a move.'' Thailand's currency dropped 0.6 percent to 35.03 to the dollar in onshore trading as of 4:30 p.m.
Rupee gains 42 paise
The rupee on Tuesday ended at 43.0650/0750, up by nearly 42 paise compared to the previous close of 43.48. Treasury officials felt that there could have been suspected intervention by the central bank, but it may not have been in a sustained manner in a bid to control inflationary pressures. A senior treasury manager pointed out, "The stronger rupee could be more a result of FII inflows and sale of dollars by smaller exporters who had earlier parked their funds in the Exchange Earners' Foreign Currency (EEFC) accounts, in the hope of encashing these funds when the dollar grew stronger." Forward premia ended the day sharply higher, as the yield on the one-month contract closed at 10.44% (7.44%). Similarly, the yield on the six-month premia ended at 5.93% (4.40%), while that on the one-year premia closed at 4.56% (3.67%).
China to monitor fund inflows
BEIJING. April 2. KAZINFORM - China, faced with burgeoning foreign exchange reserves, plans to monitor and check abnormal inflows of funds. The move comes in the wake of the country's current account surplus, which jumped to $91.58 billion in the first half of last year -- up more than 36 percent from the same period of the previous year, the State Administration of Foreign Exchange announced. China currently has total foreign exchange reserves of about $1 trillion. Deng Xianhong, deputy director of the foreign exchange administrative agency, said the new measure will cover foreign currency exchanges, companies, foreign agencies and individuals in China's 10 wealthiest regions, reports the China Daily. Banks in major Chinese cities, including the capital Beijing, have been ordered to monitor their own foreign exchange operations.
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