Russian Central Bank to toughen restrictions on buying foreign securities for unqualified investors in 2025

MOSCOW. Nov 14 (Interfax) - Unqualified investors will not be able to acquire foreign securities from January 1, 2025, with the exception of Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) countries and international financial organizations considered part of EAEU infrastructure, according to instructions published by the Central Bank of Russia on its website and which have been registered by the Justice Ministry.

Only qualified investors will be permitted to purchase derivative financial instruments for assets that involve physical delivery upon execution.

The Central Bank published a draft of the corresponding instructions in the summer of 2024. Previous instructions from the bank which came into force on October 1, 2023 assumed that unqualified investors could acquire foreign securities only if their issuers were not registered in unfriendly countries and payments for them did not pass through unfriendly countries' infrastructure.