On Abolition of Bank of Russia Financial Markets Service

In accordance with the decision of the Bank of Russia Board of Directors taken on 29 November 2013, the Bank of Russia Financial Markets Service is abolished effective from 3 March 2014.

The authority previously exerted by the Bank of Russia Financial Markets Service to exercise regulation, control and supervision of financial markets will be transferred to the established structural units of the Bank of Russia effective from 3 March 2014.

The Financial Market Access Department of the Bank of Russia Head Office will consider documents related to the procedures for admission of non-credit financial institutions to the financial market.

From 3 March 2014, all statements, notices, information and other documents related to the following matters should be submitted to this Department:

— Admission to work in the financial market (licensing, accreditation, status assignment, inclusion in the register, issuing of permits) and the exercise of other permitting authority in respect to non-credit financial institutions, their self-regulatory organisations and other associations, and on matters pertaining to the reissuing of previously issued permitting documents;

— Registration (agreement, approval) of documents of non-credit financial institutions subject to registration (agreement, approval) by the Bank of Russia in accordance with the Russian Federation legislation;

— Maintenance (recording, excluding, amending) of the state and other registers (except for the State Register of Credit History Bureaus);

— Certification of individuals for work in non-credit financial institutions (including the accrediting of organisations involved in the corresponding certification).

Documents related to the procedures for admission of securities to the financial market will be considered by the Financial Market Access Department of the Bank of Russia Head Office and in the Bank of Russia regional divisions located in Moscow, St Petersburg, Rostov-on-Don, Nizhni Novgorod, Yekaterinburg, Novosibirsk, Vladivostok, Kazan and Samara. The current delimitation of authority will remain effective until the Bank of Russia regulations come into force, except for the authority to register securities of joint-stock companies registered within the Central Federal District of the Russian Federation. Joint-stock companies registered in Moscow and the Moscow Region should submit their documents to the Bank of Russia regional division in Moscow, while joint-stock companies registered in other regions of the Central Federal District should submit their documents to the Bank of Russia regional division in Orel.

From 3 March 2014, given the above delimitation of authority, all statements, notices, information and other documents regarding such matters as:

— Registration of securities issues, reports on the results of issuing securities prospectuses, issuing permits to place and/or arrange the circulation of Russian issuers’ securities outside the Russian Federation, as well as the admission of securities of foreign issuers to placement and/or public circulation in the Russian Federation;

— State control over the acquisition of large blocks of shares of joint-stock companies in compliance with Chapter XI.1 of the Federal Law ‘On Joint-Stock Companies’;

— Exoneration of issuers from the requirement to disclose information in accordance with Article 30.1 of the Federal Law ‘On the Securities Market’

in respect to federal issuers should be submitted to the Financial Market Access Department and, in respect to other issuers, to the corresponding Bank of Russia regional division.

The statements, notices and other documents regarding admission to the market and the activities of credit history bureaus should be submitted to the Credit Institutions Licensing & Financial Rehabilitation Department.

On 1 February 2014, the authority to inspect the activities of all non-credit financial institutions, except for the issuers and credit history bureaus, was transferred to the Bank of Russia Chief Inspection.

From 3 March 2014, the authority to monitor compliance with the AML/CFT legislation by both credit and non-credit institutions will be exercised by the Financial Monitoring and Foreign Exchange Control Department.

The responsibilities to monitor compliance with the requirements of the Russian Federation legislation on combating the misuse of insider information and market manipulation, and to detect cases of insider trading and market manipulation will be exercised by the Main Office for Countering Malpractice in Financial Markets.

In addition, the responsibilities of the Main Office will include monitoring and detecting the activities of organisations with the characteristics of ‘financial pyramids’.

From 3 March 2014, all correspondence on these matters should be sent to the Main Office for Countering Malpractice in Financial Markets.

When submitting their reporting and notices (hereinafter, the reporting), financial market participants should be aware that all effective regulations and information circulars issued by the FCSM of Russia, FFMS of Russia and the Bank of Russia Financial Markets Service apply until the Bank of Russia’s regulations are approved.

From 3 March 2014, the reporting, which in accordance with the applicable regulations had to be submitted by the financial market participants to the Head Office of the Bank of Russia Financial Markets Service, should now be submitted to the Bank of Russia Head Office.

From 3 March 2014, the reporting, which in accordance with the applicable regulations had to be submitted to the regional branches of the Bank of Russia Financial Markets Service, should now be submitted in line with the Assignment Scheme for territories in which financial market participants carry out their activities and which are assigned to the Bank of Russia regional divisions, where financial market participants submit their reporting. This Scheme is posted on the Bank of Russia website under the ‘Financial Markets/Structure’. (From 3 March 2014, the section ‘Bank of Russia Financial Markets Service’ on the Bank of Russia website will be renamed ‘Financial Markets’).

From 3 March 2014, financial market participants (except for insurance entities) will continue to submit this reporting electronically and with e-signature in accordance with the Procedure for governing electronic document flow for submitting electronic documents with an e-signature to the Federal Financial Markets Service, approved by Order of the FFMS of Russia No. 10-21/pz-n, dated 25 March 2010, as well as the Instruction on submitting electronic documents to the Bank of Russia by financial market participants.This Instruction is posted on the Bank of Russia website at www.cbr.ru under ‘Financial Markets/Financial Market Participants/Personal Cabinet of a Financial Market Participant’.

The link to the ‘Personal Cabinet of a Financial Market Participant’ (http://lk.fcsm.ru) is available on the Bank of Russia website under ‘Financial Markets/Financial Markets Participants/Personal Cabinet of a Financial Market Participant’.

From 3 March 2014, the insurance entitieswill continue to submit their reporting electronically in accordance with the information circular of the Bank of Russia Financial Markets Service No. 50-13-SSh-12/14987 ‘On Terms and Formats for Providing the Reporting in the Form of Electronic Documents by Insurers and Insurance Brokers’ of 25 December 2013.

The link to the ‘Personal Cabinet of an Insurance Entity’ (http://lks.fcsm.ru) is available on the Bank of Russia website under ‘Financial Markets/Financial Markets Participants/Personal Cabinet of an Insurance Entity’.

The Bank of Russia Insurance Market Department will monitor and supervise insurance institutions. All insurance companies will be divided into two groups — large insurance companies and other insurance companies.

The insurance companies in the first group will be supervised by the Insurance Market Department of the Bank of Russia Head Office.

The insurance companies in the second group will be supervised based on their territorial affiliation with one of the three established competence centres:

— Moscow (Central Federal District);

— Saint Petersburg (North-Western, Southern, North Caucasus, and Volga Federal Districts);

— Novosibirsk (Urals, Siberian, and Far Eastern Federal Districts).

The information on the distribution of insurance companies by group will be reported separately.

From 3 March 2014, the Collective Investment and Trust Management Department will regulate the activities of investment funds, investment fund management companies, unit investment fund management companies and non-governmental pension fund management companies; specialised depository of investment funds, unit investment funds and non-governmental pension funds; activities of non-governmental pension funds for provision of non-governmental pensions and compulsory pension insurance; activities of agents for issuing, redeeming and exchanging investment units; as well as the state control and supervision of these types of activities.

From 3 March 2014, the Main Office of Microfinance Market and Financial Accessibility Methodology will regulate the activities of microfinance institutions, credit consumer cooperatives, agricultural credit consumer cooperatives, housing savings cooperatives and self-regulatory organisations of credit consumer cooperatives.

From 3 March 2014, the appeals and complaints from consumers of financial services and investors, as well as complaints from other legal entities and private individuals will be considered by the Service for Protection of Financial Services Consumers and Minority Shareholders.

All the procedures of the Bank of Russia Financial Markets Service, started before 3 March 2014 and related to the performance of public functions and provision of public services, will be exercised by the relevant Bank of Russia departments and Bank of Russia regional divisions based on the documents submitted previously to the Bank of Russia Financial Markets Service. A repeated submission of documents previously submitted by the interested parties to the Bank of Russia Financial Markets Service is not required.

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