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After Rout, Argentine Banks Shorten Investments to a Single Day

  • Average stock of one-day investments climbed to ARS62b
  • Amid uncertainty, banks take lower return for more liquidity
Argentina’s presidential front-runner Alberto Fernandez
Argentina’s presidential front-runner Alberto FernandezSarah Pabst

Alberto Fernandez’s victory in the August 11 primary elections has led some of Argentina’s private banks to reconsider their investment strategy, shortening investment terms to just one day, a change that reflects the uncertainty and volatility prevailing in the South American nation’s markets.

Last week, the banks opted to invest surpluses of money in instruments that pay a lower rate than the Leliqs, the notes issued by the central bank, because the former mature in one day instead of seven, according to data from the daily monetary operations report of the bank, known as BCRA. The stock of the BCRA’s so-called “passive passes” (repo) reached ARS 61.7 billion ($1.12 billion) in the last four days, or 13 times the average of the last 90 days.