Bank of Russia gets tough on Forex advertising

Representatives of the Bank of Russia, the body responsible for the regulation of Russia’s Forex industry, and the Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) of the Russian Federation have discussed the different practices of Forex advertising.

In an announcement following the discussions, the regulators note that, in accordance with Russia’s law on advertising, companies that do not have Forex dealer licenses and are not members of a Forex self-regulatory organization, are not allowed to advertise their Forex services. These restrictions are effective January 1, 2016.

One more important remark follows: foreign corporate entities in Russia are not allowed to promote their Forex services to Russian clients as of October 1, 2015.

The comments are rather stark, given that thus far only one Forex company – FINAM Forex, has obtained a Russian Forex dealer license. At the same time, to perform regulated Forex activities in Russia, a Forex dealer has to be a member of a Forex SRO. CRFIN is making strides to get a Forex SRO status, but has not secured it (yet). This leaves pretty much the entire Russian Forex sector in the grey.

A common statement made by Russian Forex industry representatives is that the overseas businesses offering their services to Russian clients are unaffected by the Russian Forex law. The remark made by the Bank of Russia regarding foreign corporate entities in today’s announcement, however, suggests that the regulator and the industry representatives may have differences of opinion in terms of the law interpretation.

You can view the official announcement from the Bank of Russia by clicking here.

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