Moscow Exchange (MOEX) has informed the public that it has signed a memorandum of cooperation with a wide range of Russian financial market participants aimed at undertaking joint activities to grow the retail investor platform Marketplace. The memorandum was concluded at the Finopolis conference in Sochi.
The memorandum was signed by chief executives of Moscow Exchange, National Settlement Depository, Ak Bars Bank, Zenit Bank, Gazprombank, Otkritie Bank, Promsvyazbank, Rosbank, Russian Agricultural Bank, Svyaz Bank, SKB Bank, Sovcombank, Tinkoff Bank, Uralsib Bank, Bank Center-invest, Expobank, Banki.ru, Infinitum, Sravni.ru, Unicom and Fins.Money.
The Marketplace will provide individuals access from anywhere in the world to offerings of Russian financial institutions (banks, asset managers and insurance companies), tools to compare them and the means to purchase them remotely. A client’s My Account page will provide information on all products purchased via the Marketplace and facilitate remote product management.
MOEX is acting as operator of the Marketplace platform, providing authentication and authorisation of individual users, building up their risk profiles, supporting distance contract execution for purchasing financial products and services and payment thereof, as well as submitting trades to a financial transaction registrar (NSD). Transaction records made by the registrar will be legally binding. The online portals Banki.ru and Sravni.ru, Unicom, INFINITUM Specialised Depository and the service Fins.Money are to serve as the front-end platforms that will receive offerings of financial companies and transmit products to clients.
In the first phase of the project, clients will be given access to bank deposits, including remote deposits with the use of biometric authentication. At that phase, the Marketplace platform will hold a limited number of participants, up to 20 credit organisations.
Mutual funds, government bonds and insurance and lending products will be added later on.
Alexander Afanasiev, MOEX
Alexander Afanasiev, CEO of Moscow Exchange, said:
Creation of the online financial Marketplace should make access to financial services and financial planning easier and more convenient for ordinary Russians. Our goal is to create a platform that links market participants and provides remote execution and performance of contracts across a wide range of services and instruments. Financial institutions will benefit from new distribution channels and the unified settlement tool with custodian services provided by MOEX and NSD. Today, Russia’s largest banks and online financial service providers are joining the project. I am confident that we will establish a convenient and efficient platform for the Russian public.
The online Marketplace was initiated by the Bank of Russia in 2017 jointly with market participants. In June 2018, the Bank of Russia and Moscow Exchange presented the Marketplace prototype that made a deposit, yet without cash transfer, in the testing mode.