Russia's financial marketplaces could be permitted to issue, sell proprietary securities - bill

MOSCOW. Nov 6 (Interfax) - A group of Russian members of parliament and senators have submitted a bill to the State Duma that would permit operators of financial platforms in Russia to be party to transactions with proprietary securities on the respective platforms.

Document No. 761325-8 has been posted on the parliament's e-database.

The operator of a financial platform is currently not permitted legally to be party to a transaction on its own platform.

"The purpose of the bill is to provide the operator of a financial platform the opportunity to be party to transactions with proprietary securities on said financial platform. This would expand the range of instruments offered to investors on financial platforms," according to the explanatory note to the bill.

The law on creating financial supermarkets in Russia, namely "On executing financial transactions using a financial platform", was adopted in 2020. Citizens may invest available funds by using platforms, namely to conclude transactions for the provision of banking and insurance services; for the provision of services on the securities market; as well as to render transactions with financial instruments. "The operator of a financial platform is not party to financial transactions rendered using said financial platform," according to the current legislation.

The registry of financial platform operators of the Central Bank of Russia as on November 5 included ten companies, namely the platforms of PJSC Moscow Exchange and JSC VTB Registrar, as well as the Sravni.ru and Banki.ru marketplaces, respectively.