Banks can shift excess bonds from held-to-maturity 3 more times in 2015: RBI

Mumbai: The Reserve Bank of India has allowed banks to shift their excess bond holdings to trading portfolios from the held-to-maturity (HTM) basket three more times in 2015 to adhere to its roadmap on HTM cut.

Usually banks are allowed to transfer bonds to and from HTM to available-for-sale and held-for-trading once a year in April.

The transfers can be done in January, July and September next year and will be excluded from the 5 percent cap prescribed for selling or transferring securities to and from HTM in a year, the RBI said.

At the monetary policy review on Sept. 30, the RBI had prescribed the roadmap for lowering HTM gradually, starting from January till September.