IIB, IBEC may be elements of int'l financial center infrastructure
MOSCOW. April 19 (Interfax) - The International Investment Bank (IIB) and International Bank for Economic Cooperation may serve as infrastructural elements of an international financial center in Russia, Deputy Finance Minister Sergei Storchak said.
"There are two partially forgotten institutions in Russia - the International Bank for Economic Cooperation and the International Investment Bank," Storchak said at the Prospective Bank Strategies in 2010-2011 conference. "Why not use these two banks as the cornerstones for the creation of infrastructure for a future international financial center in Moscow?"
"Both institutions have international-organization status. They are de facto dedicated legal entities in the system of banking regulation," Storchak said. For the creation of a financial center, a dedicated jurisdiction where the rules differ from national rules is a must, he said.
In the creation of a financial center in Moscow, Storchak said, "It is already important not to err in the determination of the basic principles of building such a center." One of those principles is the selection of rules to govern the activities of legal entities, he said.
"Right now, the possibility is being looked at of applying elements of jurisdiction rubles analogous to those used in the functioning of the international financial center in the United Arab Emirates, which are using English law," he said.
"The next choice is that of infrastructure, in the sense of those legal entities that will be able to offer financial mediation services in the dedicated jurisdiction," Storchak said.
Historically, he said, the infrastructure of world financial centers was put together on the basis of "branches of American banks that came to London, Franfurt, branches that accumulated petrodollars, from petrodollars came eurodeposits, and from them credits were put together." In Russia, the IIB and IBEC are ready to be such participants, he said.