Lower rates boost appetite for stock market investment
In 2026 Q1, retail investors deposited ₽910 billion in brokerage accounts to hit a quarterly high since the first observations in 2021. The most active buyers of securities were investors with accounts exceeding ₽1 million. Interest in securities investment was fuelled by declining rates in the economy.
Customer assets with brokers surged by 9% over the quarter to ₽13.3 trillion on the back of a record-high inflow of funds. Investors opted for debt securities, although their proportion in portfolios edged down from 38% to 36%. Investors were predominantly buying long-term federal government bonds with maturities exceeding 10 years and medium-term bonds of issuers with high credit ratings.
Moreover, brokerage customers increased their investments in money market exchange-traded funds as well as bond and mixed-asset funds.
In anticipation of dividend payments, investors started to focus on Russian equity as well. In contrast to the previous quarter, purchases of equity instruments exceeded their sales.
More details are available in the Review of Key Indicators of Brokers for 2026 Q1.