Consistent with international best practice the Bank utilizes an independent custodian to safe-keep the foreign assets. This custodian arrangement ensures that our assets are not co-mingled with the resources of the external manager. This proved to be extremely important since it meant that in the case of Lehman Bros our resources were not involved in Lehman’s insolvency.
Our strategy also provides for investment guidelines designed to reduce the risk to which the portfolio is exposed. •  One such guideline specifies a minimum rating for the banks in which the deposits are lodged. •  A second guideline puts a ceiling on the amounts that can be deposited into each bank.