OREANDA-NEWS. June 25, 2012. NOMOS-BANK has increased rates of interest for its NOMOS-PRESTIGE deposit account in Chinese yuan. Rates have risen by 0.5 percentage points on average for all account maturities, reported the press-centre of NOMOS-BANK.

"At present the Chinese yuan is the only currency, which has not been affected by the general trend towards lowering of interest rates," said Alina Bisembaeva, the Vice-President of NOMOS-BANK with responsibility for Private Banking. "Interest rates on deposits in Chinese yuan even rose somewhat in June, particularly for short-term deposits. Three-month rates rose from 3.55% to 4.35%, and the increase on twelve-month rates was from 4.95% to 5.10%. The yuan represents the most attractive placement of funds in an alternative currency at the present time. Only the Australian dollar offers better returns, and the Australian currency has shown quite high levels of volatility during periods of market tension".

The NOMOS-PRESTIGE account is designed for ivate banking customers of NOMOS-BANK and enables placement of funds in "exotic" currencies. Customers can choose between Australian dollars, British pounds, Japanese yen, Chinese yuan, Swiss francs and Czech kronas. The minimum deposit varies between currencies, but is equivalent to USD 100,000 on average. The customer does not need to obtain the foreign currency himself in order to open a NOMOS-PRESTIGE account: the Bank can readily convert euros, US dollars or rubles into the customer’s chosen exotic currency at the market exchange rate.

The yuan retains its potential for growth against the US dollar, as shown by the results of a survey carried out by Bloomberg. Most market participants expect the yuan to strengthen by 2% before the end of 2012. The Chinese currency is relatively immune to market risk due to its tie to the US dollar. Average fluctuation of the yuan exchange rate in a one-year timeframe is less than 2%, compared with 14—17% for other currencies of leading industrialized countries. is much better placed than other developed countries by the ratio of reserves to GDP (55%, compared with 4—6% for other countries).