Trading participant requirements

Admission to trading on the FX Market and Precious Metals Market may be granted to:

1. Resident credit organisations of the Russian Federation licenced by the Bank of Russia for performance of banking transactions in Russian roubles and foreign currency not earlier than 6 months prior to the date of applying for admission to trading (hereinafter, credit organisations);
2. Resident non-credit organisations of the Russian Federation (hereinafter, non-credit financial organisations):
   1. having one of the following licences:

• a licence of a professional securities market participant having a licence for broker and/or dealer and/or securities management activities and/or having a licence for broker activities in executing trades in commodity derivatives issued in accordance with the laws of the Russian Federation;
• insurance activities licence;
• a licence of investment fund, mutual investment fund, non-governmental pension fund asset management;
• a licence for pension funding and pension insurance activities (hereinafter, non-governmental pension funds).
  2. included in the state register of microfinance organisations (hereinafter, microfinance organisations);

3. Resident non-credit organisations of the Russian Federation other than non-credit financial organisations meeting the following requirements:

• Equity of at least RUB 500,000,000 (five hundred million roubles);
• The organisation’s activities show no reasons for undergoing bankruptcy-prevention procedures in accordance with the Russian Federation insolvency (bankruptcy) laws.
• The organisation has at least 2 in-house employees with:

• track records confirmed with a qualification certificate of a financial market specialist of the first and/or second and/or fifth type or a relevant qualification certificate in accordance with the laws of the Russian Federation;

and/or

• track records confirmed with the following documents: ACI Dealing Certificate and/or ACI Diploma and/or CFA certificate;

and/or

• track records with financial markets experience involving forex transactions. Assessment of the required track records takes account of a six-month work experience specifically related to execution of transactions in financial instruments and/or placement of cash funds, inclusive of decision-making on transaction execution, preparation of relevant recommendations, control over transactions, financial market research and risk management.

Additional requirements to the employees mentioned in this item:

• the employees are not persons whose qualification certificates were revoked less than three years ago;

and

• the employees do not have a criminal record for committing economic crimes.

To confirm the fulfilment of the requirements stated in the present
Sub-clause, a letter about complying with the requirements of a Candidate that is not a non-credit financial organisation shall be submitted to the Exchange;

4. State corporations entitled to conduct FX purchase and sale transactions in the territory of the Russian Federation in accordance with the laws of the Russian Federation;
5. Non-Russian Federation banks from EurAsEC/EAEU (hereinafter, non-resident banks from EurAsEC/EAEU) provided that the following requirements are met:

• non-resident banks from EurAsEC/EAEU shall be residents of the states having signed the Treaty for Cooperation in the Field of Organisation of the Integrated Foreign Exchange Market of Member States of the Eurasian Economic Community on 25 January 2006, and/or residents of member states of the Eurasian Economic Community;
• non-resident banks from EurAsEC/EAEU shall have a special permit (licence) of the central (national) bank or other authorised government authority of the state whereof a non-resident bank is a resident allowing the non-resident bank to perform the banking operations and foreign currency transactions (for participation in FX trading) or transactions in precious metals as provided for in the national laws (for participation in precious metals trades);

6. Non-Russian Federation banks (except non-resident banks from EurAsEC/EAEU admitted to trading pursuant to 5 above) (hereinafter, non-resident banks) provided that they meet the following criteria:

• non-resident banks must be residents in the countries from the Russian Federation government-approved list of the countries whose residents may be admitted to organised trading where FX contracts and/or FX derivatives contracts are entered into with the central counterparty, which is an authorised bank;
• non-resident banks must have a special permit (licence) issued by the central (national) bank or other authorised public authority of the country the non-resident bank is a resident of for banking operations under the national legislation, and provided that they are not banned from making FX contracts and (or) FX derivatives contracts.

To confirm that there is no ban on entering into FX contracts and/or FX derivatives contracts, non-resident banks shall submit to the Exchange a letter confirming the absence of such a ban.

7. Non-Russian Federation non-credit institutions (hereinafter, non-resident non-credit institutions), provided the following criteria are met:

• non-resident non-credit institutions must be residents in the countries from the Russian Federation government-approved list of the countries whose residents may be admitted to organised trading where FX contracts and/or FX derivatives contracts are entered into with the central counterparty being an authorised bank;
• non-resident non-credit institutions must be authorised to carry out operations under the national legislation similar to those carried out under a brokerage licence of a professional securities market participant, and they must not be banned from entering into FX contracts and/or FX derivatives contracts.

To confirm that there is no ban on entering into FX contracts and/or FX derivatives contracts, non-resident non-credit institutions shall submit to the Exchange a letter confirming the absence of such a ban.

8. International organisations established in accordance with the international treaties of the Russian Federation, entitled to conduct FX purchase and sale transactions in the territory of the Russian Federation in accordance with the laws of the Russian Federation (hereinafter, international organisations);

Additional Requirements for Getting Admission to Trading on the Precious Metals Market:

1. Credit organisations shall have a valid licence of the Bank of Russia to raise precious metals as deposits and to place them, if such Trading Members are not licensed as professional securities market participants to act as a broker and/or dealer and/or asset management company/are not licensed to act as a broker while executing trades in commodity derivatives;
2. State corporations and international organisations shall be entitled to execute purchase and sale transactions in precious metals in the territory of the Russian Federation in accordance with the laws of the Russian Federation or an international treaty;
3. Asset management companies shall comply with requirements and restrictions set out in the Russian Federation’s laws on investment and placement of investment fund and mutual investment fund assets, pension scheme reserves and pension scheme savings of non-governmental pension funds, their composition and structure;
4. Non-resident banks from EurAsEC/EAEU must have a valid permit (license) of the central (national) bank or other authorised government authority of the state whereof a non-resident bank is a resident allowing the non-resident bank to execute transactions in precious metals in accordance with the national law.
5. Non-resident banks shall have a special permit (licence) issued by the central (national) bank or any other public authority of the country the non-resident bank is a resident of to carry out transactions in precious metals in accordance with the national law.
6. Non-resident banks from EurAsEC/EAEU and/or non-resident banks and/or non-resident non-credit institutions shall be eligible to trade precious metals only on their own behalf and for their own expense or for expense of their clients being foreign persons.

Useful links:

Admission Rules to Participation in Organized Trading of Moscow Exchange