Moscow Exchange registers half a million Individual Investment Accounts

The number of Individual Investment Accounts (IIA) opened with Moscow Exchange reached 502,000 on 20 November 2018, up from 302,000 at year-end 2017, 195,200 at year-end 2016 and 88,900 at year-end 2015). 

279,000 IIAs (more than 55% of all IIAs) were opened by new private investors who previously did not have a brokerage account.  

In total, approximately one million new private investors have entered the market since early 2015, with the number of registered personal accounts at 2.6 million. 524,000 of those investors have executed at least one trade this year.  

Equities are the most popular securities investment vehicle among holders of IIAs. The share of stocks in the IIA portfolios was 50% as of 31 October 2018. Government bonds accounted for 27.4%, corporate bonds accounted for 19.4% and ETFs accounted for 3.2%.

The largest number of IIAs were opened by clients of Sberbank (241,000 IIAs), BCS (58,000) and Finam (54,000). Leaders among asset managers were Sberbank Asset Management (47,000 IIAs), Alfa Capital (12,000) and Otkritie (11,000). 138 companies have opened IIAs.

The top regions by the number of IIAs are Moscow and the Moscow region, St. Petersburg, Sverdlovsk region and the Republic of Bashkortostan. 

Since 1 January 2015, private investors have had the choice of opening an Individual Investment Account (IIA) with a broker (brokerage account) or asset management company (trust management). Individuals may make cash contributions of up to RUB 1,000,000 in a calendar year. Funds may be invested into securities market instruments, such as equities, government and corporate bonds (including Eurobonds), ETFs, mutual funds, etc. In addition to capital gains, investors are entitled to receive tax rebates of 13% of their annual cash contribution (up to a limit of RUB 52,000) or to zero income tax for capital gain when the account is closed.