Bank of Russia develops concept for regulation of qualification requirements for securities market specialists

The concept was prepared in connection with the expiry on 1 July 2019 of qualification certificates of financial market specialists issued by organisations accredited by the Bank of Russia. These certificates will no longer be a mandatory qualification requirement.

The prepared document offers a model of admitting to the market only those support employees who perform key functions for the type of activity of their organisation: performing operations in the securities market, developing trust management strategies, maintaining records in the registers of securities owners and depository accounting, or giving individual investment recommendations.

The concept offers two options for confirming the qualifications of such specialists. The first option involves an independent assessment of the specialist and issuance of a qualification certificate based on assessment results. The second option involves the employer independently developing a competency assessment programme or using a programme proposed by a self-regulatory organisation. It is assumed that these programmes may take into account the fact that an employee might have an international financial market qualification certificate, but only if such an employee is familiar with the specifics of Russian regulation.

The Bank of Russia believes that, in the context of the formation of independent assessment, internal audits of employers will create competitive conditions for the development of independent qualification assessment programmes.