Mexican Banks Trading Pesos in Free Market

Some of the nation’s largest banks are taking advantage of a new government decision and are buying and selling pesos in the free market.

Officials said last week that the move is expected to ease recent frantic speculation in the currency. The exchange rate has been driven to record levels by Mexicans apparently nervous about a further devaluation of the currency and the nation’s falling oil prices.

But a Mexican banker, who would speak only on condition that he not be identified, said transactions in the new “super-free” rate were slow. Wary investors were waiting to see how the operations fare, he said.

Individuals as well as corporations are allowed to make the transactions, but there were still long lines at banks where Mexicans waited to buy dollars at the lower rates set by the government.

‘Super-Free’ Rate

The new transactions are carried out at the super-free rate, a name used to differentiate it from the two exchange rates--the controlled and the free--set by the government.

Maria Luisa Flores, a dealer in the foreign exchange department of the Bancomer bank, said the bank was demanding 319 pesos to buy a dollar and giving 313 pesos for those selling a dollar.

The government’s controlled rate for nearly all commercial transactions was 228 pesos to the dollar last Thursday and 245 pesos to 246 pesos at the free rate, which is used mostly for tourism.

The financial newspaper El Financiero said sellers of dollars, operating outside the exchange houses on the “black market,” were demanding 335 pesos.