Russia passed a Forex Law last year, requiring any broker soliciting or engaging in trading with retail clients to receive a license as of January 1 of this year.
Most of the brokers serving the Russian market have applied for the license, but to date (including now Alpari) only six licenses have been handed out by the Bank of Russia, which acts as the country’s financial regulator.
LeapRate already reported that Alpari had applied for a Russian license, but was formally rejected by the Bank of Russia back in June. Other companies which were rejected by the Bank of Russia include 24option and 24FX.
FX broker Alpari Limited has become the sixth company to receive a license to operate in Russia with retail clients, which makes Alpari an official licensed forex dealer in the Russian market.
The other five licenses were handed out to Forex Club, Russian banking giant VTB and its VTB 24 Forex subsidiary, FINAM Forex, TeleTrade and TrustForex.
Alpari and Forex Club have traditionally been the leading Retail Forex brokers serving the Russia language market.
Boris Shilov, CEO, Alpari
Boris Shilov, Alpari CEO, commented:
We’ve done a lot of preparatory work and are pleased that Alpari received the Russian license. It enables customers to choose Alpari’s domestic jurisdiction for the international financial markets and provide them with additional legal protection. The Russian market of online trading continues to develop, but there’s lots that remains to be done to increase its attractiveness. Alpari, in close cooperation with regulators and other market participants, will continue to assist in its improvement.