Brazil simplifies system for local currency transactions with neighbors

BRASILIA, April 20 (Reuters) - Brazil's National Monetary Council decided on Thursday to simplify procedures of the local currency payment system (SML), an infrastructure that brings together the central banks of Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay, seeking to increase competition and reduce costs in transactions in local currency.

In a statement, Brazil's central bank said the resolution approved by the country's top economic policy body expands the list of institutions eligible to operate in the SML "in order to make it an additional product for clients of institutions authorized to operate in foreign exchange by the central bank." (Reporting by Marcela Ayres; Editing by Leslie Adler)