Finam opens access to OTC dollar trading for retail investors

MOSCOW. Sept 16 (Interfax) - Finam has provided its clients with the opportunity to trade U.S. dollars over-the-counter (OTC), the financial group said.

Clients may place buy-and-sell orders for dollars in the mobile app and web version of the FinamTrade platform. Transactions are conducted on business days from 10:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. Moscow time in the T+1 mode, with settlements occurring the next business day.

"The dynamics of the exchange rate that investors see on the terminals change depending on the market situation and depending on the ratio of supply and demand among the participants of OTC trading," Finam said.

All Finam clients can effect transactions. Qualified investor status and/or additional testing are not required.

"At the first stage, we have opened access to the most liquid instrument of the currency market, namely U.S. dollars. We will see how the situation develops, and we do not rule out that the list of instruments could be expanded. Other currencies that have become unavailable in exchange trading may appear on it," Deputy CEO for Brokerage Business at Finam FG Dmitry Lesnov said in the statement.

Finam announced the launch of OTC currency trading for clients in July. "Our clients have ceased to be able to trade the currencies of unfriendly countries freely since mid-June. Therefore, our main goal in the near future is the possibility of providing OTC trading in the currencies to which they are accustomed, namely dollars and euros. Everything that has left the Moscow Exchange , so to speak, though has remained in the format of OTC trading," Lesnov said at the time.

The United States Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), which is responsible for sanctions enforcement, added the Moscow Exchange and its group of companies, the National Clearing Center (NCC) and the National Settlement Depository (NSD), to the sanctions list on June 12. Following this, trading in the U.S. dollar, euro, and Hong Kong dollar was suspended on the exchange.