INSTRUCTION TO APPROVED BANKS AND EXCHANGE OFFICES (ALL)

Subject: Modalities for transmitting data for the calculation of the indicative exchange rate

The Central Bank of Congo, acting pursuant to Law No. 005/2002 of May 7, 2002, regarding its constitution, organization, and functioning, and Ordinance-Law No. 67/272 of June 23, 1967, as amended and supplemented to date, defining its regulatory power in matters of exchange, hereby adopts the following provisions regarding the modalities for transmitting data for the calculation of the indicative exchange rate:

TITLE I

TRANSMISSION OF EXCHANGE DATA VIA ELECTRONIC MEANS

Article 1: The Central Bank of Congo has implemented a software for the electronic transmission and automatic calculation of the indicative exchange rate, named "BCC-FOREX".

This device consists of:

1. The mandatory electronic transmission to the Central Bank of Congo of daily statistics on exchange positions, needs, and foreign currency offers by approved banks;
2. The entry, validation, and electronic transmission to the Central Bank of Congo by approved banks and exchange offices of foreign currency purchase and sale operations and their respective rates, primarily in US dollars and Euros.

The practical modalities relating to the processing of the operations listed in Article 1 above are defined in accordance with the provisions of the current Foreign Exchange Market Convention and the online "User Manual".

TITLE II

INTERVENERS, TYPE OF DATA, AND CURRENCIES

Article 3: Apart from the Central Bank of Congo, approved banks and exchange offices are the only interveners in the determination of the indicative exchange rate.

Article 4: The branches of approved banks operating on the foreign exchange market both in Kinshasa and in the provinces are required to directly enter into the system all their exchange transactions concluded during the day.

Article 5: Approved banks are required to communicate to the Central Bank of Congo, via the system, each working day and no later than 09:00, their reports containing the following data:

transfer rates for purchase and sale; operational rates for purchase and sale; exchange positions; foreign currency needs; foreign currency offers.

Article 6: Paragraph 1: The data intended for the calculation of the indicative exchange rate of the Central Bank of Congo covers foreign currency purchase and sale transactions against the Congolese franc concluded in currencies quoted by the Central Bank of Congo and their respective rates. The exhaustive list of said currencies is available in the application.

Data for transactions in foreign currencies other than the US dollar and the Euro are converted into US dollars.

Paragraph 2: For statistical and analytical reasons, approved banks and exchange offices are required to communicate to the Central Bank of Congo the names of clients with whom they have concluded significant transactions during a day.

Article 7: Paragraph 1: The entry and validation of transaction data provided for in Article 1 are carried out each working day no later than 16:00 (Kinshasa time).

Paragraph 2: Each intervener on the foreign exchange market is responsible for the data entered and validated in the system.

Paragraph 3: Transactions concluded by one of the interveners after the closing time of the Central Bank of Congo's Trading Room mentioned in Paragraph 1 are carried over to the following day.

Paragraph 4: During a day, if the headquarters of an approved bank has not concluded exchange transactions, it must nevertheless register in the system, no later than 09:00 (Kinshasa time), its operational rates, its foreign currency needs, its foreign currency offer, its exchange position in US dollars, and its transaction volumes (0).

Paragraph 5: During a day, any intervener other than the headquarters of an approved bank that has not concluded exchange transactions must nevertheless register in the system its operational rates and its zero transaction volumes (0).

TITLE III

SANCTIONS

Article 8: Sanctions apply to:

• The non-transmission of the report that each bank is required to communicate to the Central Bank of Congo every working day by 09:00 at the latest (see Article 5);
• The non-transmission of information on exchange transactions concluded during the day by 16:00 at the latest (see Articles 6 and 7).

Paragraph 1: For bank reports:

• Late transmission: sending the report after 10:00 (Kinshasa time);
• Non-transmission: failure to send the report by 14:00 (Kinshasa time) at the latest;

For exchange operations:

• Non-transmission: failure by a branch to send data on its exchange operations (purchase and sale volumes and their respective rates);
• Transmission of erroneous data: discovery by the Central Bank of discrepancies between the data communicated in the system and those contained in the accounting and financial statements presented by the bank.

Paragraph 2: The sanctions mentioned in Paragraph 1 above are automatically generated by the system at the end of each month, with an annex detailing by date, branch, and agency for each offending bank. The associated penalties are collected by automatic debit from the current accounts of the offending bank opened in the books of the Central Bank of Congo at the beginning of each month.

After connecting to the "BCC-FOREX" software, no branch or agency of a bank is authorized to send to its headquarters or to entities already connected to the software the data intended for the calculation of the exchange rate, under penalty of sanctions.

Article 10: Without prejudice to other legal or regulatory provisions, any breach of the provisions thus established, observed during a file review or on-site inspection or on any other occasion, leads to the application of sanctions provided for by Ordinance-Law No. 67/272 of June 23, 1967, regarding the regulatory power of the Central Bank of Congo in matters of exchange.

TITLE IV

TRANSITIONAL AND FINAL PROVISIONS

Article 11: The methodology for calculating the indicative exchange rate is reproduced in the annex to this instruction.

Article 12: Any matter not addressed by these provisions shall be submitted to the appreciation of the Central Bank of Congo.

Article 13: Entities not yet connected to the system will continue to communicate exchange data using the currently used means.

This instruction repeals all prior provisions contrary to it and enters into force on the date of its signature.

Deogratias

TOMBO MWANA NYEMBO Governor

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ANNEX

MODALITIES FOR CALCULATING THE INDICATIVE EXCHANGE RATE BY THE CENTRAL BANK OF CONGO

The reference rates published by the Central Bank of Congo are determined as follows:

1. The Central Bank of Congo, through the Directorate of Banking Operations and Markets, enters:

   • The coefficients of different currencies quoted by it;
   • The parallel rate of the US dollar against Congolese francs in Kinshasa;
   • The parallel rates of the US dollar against Congolese francs in the Provinces recorded at the Provincial Directorates, Autonomous Agencies, and Mandatories of the Central Bank installed in the provinces;
   • The transactions of the Central Bank of Congo for purchase and sale concluded on the foreign exchange market in Kinshasa and in the provinces.

2. Based on the transactions entered by each intervener and in application of the provisions of Article 7, paragraph 2, the Central Bank of Congo thus determines the weighted average rate of the US dollar relative to the Congolese franc.

3. The indicative exchange rate of the US dollar relative to the Congolese franc published by the Central Bank of Congo is a weighted average automatically generated by the system by multiplying the volume of purchase and sale transactions by their respective exchange rates communicated by the different interveners and dividing the sum of the values obtained by the sum of the volumes for purchase and sale.

The buyer and seller rates published by the Central Bank of Congo are automatically generated by the system from the average rate.