Once the bank has secured an account with the facilitator bank, the latter will assist the former in making payments for transactions using its home currency. A Nostro account is a mechanism that banks use to keep track of all funds being held in other banks in the currency of the country where the funds are held. The Nostro account is maintained in a foreign currency that can be converted for use in foreign exchange and foreign trades. NOSTRO accounts are one of the ways that banks manage their foreign currency exposure and facilitate international transactions for their customers.

Unless you fancy a career in international banking, you might never need to use a nostro or vostro account personally. But if you’re sending money overseas with traditional banks, the chances are that your funds are passing through nostro accounts as part of the process. The central banks of many developing countries limit the buying and selling of their currencies, which is usually to control imports and exports and to control the exchange rate. Banks generally don’t hold nostro accounts in those countries, as there is little or no foreign exchange business. With the transfer complete, GTBank receives the dollar-denominated funds, converts them into the local currency (i.e., the naira), and deposits them to the local accounts of the recipients. Vostro accounts are one of the ways that foreign banks manage their foreign currency exposure and facilitate international transactions for their customers.

As in the above examples, when SBI opens a Nostro account with Citibank, it is a Vostro account for Citibank. Similarly the Vostro account for SBI is actually a nostro account for Citibank. ICICI provides financial services and promotes economic development and growth.

Many more such topics with crisp content have been provided in our RBI Grade B 2020 online course as to make you understand the concepts clearly so that it helps you in the RBI Grade B interview round as well. SWIFT is the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunications. The bank in Ghana has an agreement with a British bank in which the British bank will open an account remotely for Ghana in U.K. A Vostro account works just like any other account held by a bank, but in this case, its owner is a corresponding bank. Now, assume an Individual, Mr. A, needs to transfer $ 1,00,000 to someone else, Mr. B, in the USA. For this situation, Mr. A will move toward his home bank and request that they open a Nostro account in the reporter bank in the USA.

In some cases, the facilitator bank may not be a primary clearing member but they will have the ability to make payments in local currency, possibly through another bank in the same country. GTBank, a Nigerian bank, gets a lot of money sent to its customers at home from the United States in the form of remittances. Since GTBank does not have a physical presence in the United States, it enters into an agreement with Citibank where the latter has an account remotely opened for GTBank in U.S. dollars. This way, money received by U.S. customers and businesses sending money to GTBank account holders in Nigeria will be deposited in the account that GTBank has with Citibank.

  • When the US bank wants to exchange USD to GBP, they’ll deposit USD to the British bank’s nostro bank in the US.
  • The account is held on behalf of a domestic bank that manages and supervises the funds.
  • Both types of accounts are used to differentiate the different types of accounts that banks hold for other banks.
  • Vostro is a reference to «yours» and refers to «your money that is on deposit at our bank.» A vostro account is like any other account held by a bank.
  • Working with an adviser may come with potential downsides such as payment of fees (which will reduce returns).

This account helps in simplifying foreign exchange transactions as well as trade settlements. Now, this is called the ‘Nostro account’ from country A’s point of you. And since country ‘B’ maintains an account of a foreign bank in its home currency, i.e., ‘B’ currency, this will be a ‘Vostro account’ from country B’s point of view.

However, with the adoption of the euro, a single Nostro account in the entire region is sufficient. There is also the notion of a loro account («theirs»), which is a record of an account held by a second bank on behalf of a third party; that is, my record of their account with you. In practice this is rarely used, the main exception being complex syndicated financing. In the same way, if a customer of Bank XYZ wants to send money to a recipient in India, Bank XYZ can use the funds in its NOSTRO account with Bank ABC to complete the transaction.

What Is a Nostro Account?

These accounts are often used to simplify settlements of trade and foreign exchange transactions. Nostro accounts differ from standard demand deposit bank accounts in that they are usually held by financial institutions, and they are denominated in foreign currencies. Unlike Nostro accounts, these types of accounts are not confined or restricted to banks; they can be used by any other entity if they want to use them. The motive that lies behind a Vostro account is the need for the entities and banks to gain a physical presence in all the countries.

  • If a currency is not convertible, a bank may work with a third party in the foreign country to carry out the transaction on its behalf.
  • A bank counts a nostro account with a debit balance as a cash asset in its balance sheet.
  • These two terms reflect the perspective of each bank in the correspondent banking relationship.
  • SWIFT is a cooperative owned by its members that handle financial transactions.

From Bank A’s perspective, a Nostro account is denominated in foreign currencies, whereas a Vostro account is denominated in the home currency. If a United States resident wants to open a euro account, they do not necessarily have to travel to Europe to open the account. Instead, they can approach a local US bank to set up the euro account on their behalf. The local US bank will then open a Nostro account with a facilitator bank with a physical presence in the eurozone that they have a banking relationship with. All three accounts are most important for easy foreign exchange transactions and make faster, and quicker with low cost.

Example of a Vostro Account

For example, Nostro A/C (our account with you) – is a current account maintained by a domestic bank (say SBI) with a foreign bank (say Citi Bank) in a foreign country. The Nostro account, Vostro account, and Loro account, are three very important terms when it comes to understanding foreign exchange. You must clearly understand these three main terms if you receive or send money to your loved ones in a foreign country.

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To use a foreign currency, that particular currency must be exchanged into home currency. The three major accounts related to foreign accounts are the Nostro account, Vostro account, and Loro account. The Vostro account is simply a record of the amount of money that the bank holding the account owes to the other bank.

What is a Vostro Account?

From the perspective of domestic banks, the funds deposited at correspondent banks are referred to as nostro accounts. Nostro accounts are denominated in the foreign currency of the correspondent bank. The term vostro, translated from Latin, means «your,» as in your account.

Thus Bank A will move the necessary sum in dollars to the Nostro record of bank B in the United States of America. Therefore, no transactions occur from one country to another; be that as it may, the exchange is executed without a hitch. These accounts are most widely used for currency settlement, which occurs when a bank or other financial institution wants to settle balances in a currency other than the https://1investing.in/ currency of its home accounting unit. When the bank has protected an account with the facilitator bank, the last option will help the previous make installments for exchanges utilizing its home currency. Finally, the facilitator bank uses its clearing network with the national bank to complete the transaction. It is always denominated in foreign currency, whereas a Vostro account is in domestic currency.

Nostro accounts differ from standard demand deposit accounts because they are denominated in foreign currencies. Also, only businesses or governments have nostro or vostro accounts, they aren’t offered in the same way to individual account holders. Corporations can also set up nostro accounts in countries where they do business and have a high volume of foreign exchange transactions.

If you’ve heard both of the terms nostro and vostro you might be wondering what the difference is between a nostro and a vostro account. In fact, these terms can refer to the same bank account but from different points of view. When a bank needs to make a payment in a country where it doesn’t hold a nostro account, it can use a bank with which it has a correspondent relationship to make the payment on its behalf. Since that date, one nostro account for the entire eurozone has been sufficient. If a country were to leave the eurozone, either voluntarily or involuntarily, banks would need to re-establish nostros in that country in its new currency in order to continue making payments. On the other hand, a Vostro account is a reference used by Bank B, which holds Bank A’s funds.

Nostro Account vs. Vostro Account

This term is generally used when international trading is involved as well as for some additional transactions. The terms describe a situation in which one bank is holding a deposit owned by another bank. An author, teacher & investing expert with nearly two decades experience as an investment portfolio manager and chief financial officer for a real estate holding company.

If a case arises where there is an overdrawn amount or there is an insufficient amount of funds in the Nostro account, some fee is charged from these accounts. We know that Vostro accounts are used in foreign banking as an intermediary for transactions where the correspondent bank acts as a manager or supervisor of the funds. Further, the term “Vostro” is Latin for “yours,” implying the funds are solely the customers.