Host families WANTED

World Heritage is presently seeking host families to participate in the 2010/2011 academic year program.

We have students from all over the world who are excited to share their heritage and to learn about our country. We are also proud to be a part of the YES (Youth Exchange and Study) program which was created by the U.S. Department of State and provides scholarship for a ten month experience to high school students from countries with significant Muslim population, and the FLEX (Future Leaders Exchange) program which brings high school age students from Eurasia (Newly Independent State of the form Soviet Union) to the USA for an academic year.

These personable and academically select exchange students speak English, are bright, curious and eager to learn about this country through living as part of a family and attending high school. The exchange students arrive from their home country shortly before school begins and return at the end of the school year. Each World Heritage student is fully insured, brings his or her own personal spending money and expects to bear his or her share of house responsibilities, as well as being included in normal family activities and lifestyles. At the same time the student will be teaching their newly adopted host family about their own culture and language.

The students are well screened and qualified by World Heritage. Once families are paired, students and families are encouraged to begin corresponding prior to the student’s arrival.

Hosting an exchange student can be a life changing experience for everyone involved. I have had the joy of serving as a liaison between host families, students, schools and World Heritage and have been able to see how this program can really make a difference! I am the local Area Rep for Anchorage and the Mat-Su Valley, and I’m always available to answer any questions and get you started on the road to hosting foreign exchange students! Please call or e-mail any questions.

FOREIGN EXCHANGE RATES

THE TABLE BELOW SHOWS THE AVERAGE RATES OF EXCHANGE IN DECEMBER 2009 TOGETHER

WITH COMPARABLE FIGURES FOR OTHER MONTHS. AVERAGES ARE BASED ON DAILY NOON BUYING

RATES FOR CABLE TRANSFERS IN NEW YORK CITY CERTIFIED FOR CUSTOMS PURPOSES BY

THE FEDERAL RESERVE BANK OF NEW YORK.

(Currency units per U.S. dollar except as noted)

MONETARY 2009 2009 2009 2008

COUNTRY UNIT December November October December

*AUSTRALIA DOLLAR 0.9021 0.9197 0.9067 0.6719

BRAZIL REAL 1.7508 1.7268 1.7378 2.3954

CANADA DOLLAR 1.0537 1.0593 1.0547 1.2337

CHINA, P.R. YUAN 6.8275 6.8271 6.8267 6.8539

DENMARK KRONE 5.1060 4.9914 5.0220 5.5239

*EMU MEMBERS EURO 1.4579 1.4908 1.4821 1.3511

HONG KONG DOLLAR 7.7526 7.7497 7.7497 7.7504

INDIA RUPEE 46.5273 46.5305 46.6524 48.5132

JAPAN YEN 89.9509 89.2674 90.3671 91.2750

MALAYSIA RINGGIT 3.4099 3.3886 3.4016 3.5483

MEXICO PESO 12.8622 13.1115 13.2275 13.4167

*NEW ZEALAND DOLLAR 0.7169 0.7301 0.7386 0.5597

NORWAY KRONE 5.7708 5.6430 5.6428 7.0159

SINGAPORE DOLLAR 1.3962 1.3888 1.3974 1.4769

SOUTH AFRICA RAND 7.4848 7.5096 7.4871 9.9227

SOUTH KOREA WON 1163.3109 1162.8368 1173.7405 1361.5727

SRI LANKA RUPEE 114.2836 114.4853 114.7838 111.4464

SWEDEN KRONA 7.1384 6.9267 6.9550 8.0124

SWITZERLAND FRANC 1.0301 1.0131 1.0213 1.1404

TAIWAN DOLLAR 32.2459 32.3189 32.2910 33.1555

THAILAND BAHT 33.2045 33.2621 33.3900 35.0086

*UNITED KINGDOM POUND 1.6226 1.6599 1.6212 1.4854

VENEZUELA BOLIVAR 2.1446 2.1430 2.1446 2.1446

MEMO:

UNITED STATES DOLLAR

1)BROAD JAN97=100 101.7502 101.2873 101.7775 108.4748

2)MAJOR CURRENCY MAR73=100 73.9795 73.1487 73.5597 80.6853

3)OITP JAN97=100 132.5444 132.8137 133.3550 138.5069

U.S. dollars per currency unit.

1) A weighted average of the foreign exchange value of the U.S. dollar against the currencies

of a broad group of major U.S. trading partners.

2) A weighted average of the foreign exchange value of the U.S. dollar against a subset of

the broad index currencies that circulate widely outside the country of issue.

3) A weighted average of the foreign exchange value of the U.S. dollar against a subset of

the broad index currencies that do not circulate widely outside the country of issue.

For information about your subscription to this release or about receiving it in document form,

please call publication services at Federal Reserve Board at (202) 452-3244.

The euro is reported in place of the individual eure-area currencies. These currency rates

can be derived from the dollar/euro rate by using the fixed conversion rates (in currencies

per euro) given below:

1 EURO = 13.7603 AUSTRIAN SCHILLINGS

= 40.3399 BELGIAN FRANCS

= 5.94573 FINNISH MARKKAS

= 6.55957 FRENCH FRANCS

= 1.95583 GERMAN MARKS

= .787564 IRISH POUNDS

= 1936.27 ITALIAN LIRE

= 40.3399 LUXEMBOURG FRANCS

= 2.20371 NETHERLANDS GUILDERS

= 200.482 PORTUGUESE ESCUDOS

= 166.386 SPANISH PESETAS

= 340.750 GREEK DRACHMAS

= 239.640 SLOVENIAN TOLAR

Global Finance names the World’s Best Foreign Exchange Providers 2010

GLOBAL WINNER

Deutsche Bank

REGIONAL WINNERS
North America	Citi
Latin America	Citi
Western Europe	Deutsche Bank
Central and Eastern Europe	Deutsche Bank
Scandinavia	Handelsbanken Capital Markets
Middle East	Ahli United Bank
Africa	Standard Chartered Bank
Asia-Pacifc	Standard Chartered Bank
Southeast Asia	Standard Chartered Ba

BEST FOREIGN EXCHANGE PROVIDERS 2010

Global Finance names the World’s Best Foreign Exchange Providers 2010

NEW YORK, November 17, 2009 – Global Finance magazine has named the “Best Foreign Exchange Banks and Providers” by country, region and category in an exclusive survey to be published in the January 2010 issue. Deutsche Bank was named as the global winner. Global Finance editors – with input from industry analysts, corporate executives and technology experts – also selected the best currency trading providers in 86 countries or regions. The best online foreign exchange systems were also identifed. Criteria for choosing the traditional and online winners included transaction volume, market share, scope of global coverage, customer service,competitive pricing and innovative technologies.

“The dollar has come under attack and emerging market currencies are soaring. Corporations around the world need to select a strong, knowledgeable FX bank to help them cope with the turbulence in the markets and the risk of a dollar collapse,” says Joseph D. Giarraputo, publisher and president of Global Finance.

For editorial information please contact: Dan Keeler, Editor, email: dan@gfmag.com

UBS raises 2010 foreign exchange forecast for peso at 46 to $1

MANILA, Philippines - The Union Bank of Switzerland (UBS) has raised its 2010 foreign exchange forecast for the Philippines to P46 to the dollar from P48 previously on expectations that there will be more dollar inflows next year.

The revised forecast of P46 against the greenback is within the government’s foreign exchange forecast range of P46 to P48 to the dollar for 2010.

UBS noted that the peso would likely perform better than the Singapore dollar and the Malaysian ringgit next year.

“Current account surpluses, along with comparative leniency on the part of central banks towards currency appreciation, could allow for relatively more strength against the US dollar by end 2010 for the Thai bath and the Philippine peso than for the Singapore dollar and Malaysian ringgit,” UBS said in its latest report on the Association of Southeast Asian (ASEAN) countries.

UBS said that along with Thailand, the Philippines is likely to sustain its current account surplus on continued dollar inflows next year even as it noted that the surpluses may diminish in size.

“In our view, this, combined with the balance of investment flows, should favor stronger currencies over an eight-month timeframe. Here, we are assuming that investment flows reflect real and financial sector investors’ efforts to search out cheaper production bases and stronger growth than available in developed markets,” it said.

Currently, the peso has been trading at the P48-to-the-dollar level.

In the first quarter of the year, the country’s current account — a record of trade and remittances — recorded a surplus of $2.2 billion, higher by 69.2 percent compared to the $1.3 billion surplus in the same period last year.

The marked improvement was due to higher services and current transfers net receipts coupled with lower trade-in-goods deficit, the Philippine central bank has said.

The trade-in-goods deficit narrowed by 22.9 percent to $2.1 billion from the $2.8 billion deficit recorded in the same quarter last year, given the larger contraction in imports of goods of $5.2 billion compared to that of exports of goods of $4.6 billion.

The global economic slowdown continued to take its toll on exports and imports which both posted double-digit declines following the recession in the economies of our traditional trading partners, the central bank also said.

2010 Triennial Central Bank Survey of Foreign Exchange and Derivatives Market Activity

Every three years, the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) coordinates a global central bank survey designed to yield comprehensive and internationally consistent information on the size and structure of foreign exchange (FX) and over-the-counter (OTC) derivatives markets. By increasing market transparency, the survey aims to help monetary authorities and market participants better monitor patterns of activity and exposures in the global financial system.

The BIS announced today that it will conduct the eighth such triennial survey in April and June 2010. The 54 participating central banks will compile data collected from the reporting financial institutions in their countries for submission to the BIS, which will calculate and publish the global totals. In April 2010, data will be collected on daily turnover in notional amounts of FX spot as well as FX and interest rate OTC derivatives transactions. Data as at end-June will be collected on outstanding notional amounts and gross market values of FX, interest rate, equity, commodity and other OTC derivatives contracts as well as credit default swaps (CDS).

The BIS has been working with central banks to prepare the survey guidelines and reporting templates for the upcoming exercise. The turnover part of the survey will be conducted on a residence (locational) basis, the amounts outstanding part on a global consolidated basis. More than 4,000 financial institutions worldwide are expected to participate.

Instead of a single final report as for the previous surveys, the 2010 publication will be split into two parts according to the following timeline:

· Global activity on traditional FX markets and associated OTC derivatives instruments

o End-August: preliminary results on turnover at end-April

o November: detailed report (including notional amounts outstanding and gross market values)

· Non-FX OTC derivatives and CDS global positions and gross market values at end-June

o End-October: preliminary results

o December: detailed analysis