Russia’s Forex Law gets approved by the Federation Council

Earlier today the Russian Forex Law (№ 249583-6) cleared another important step and was formally approved by the Federation Council, the upper chamber of the Russian parliament, representing the next step in becoming legally binding after it was approved in mid-December by the State Duma which is the lower chamber of the Russian parliament.

This method of approval is necessary for any law that concerns financial regulation in Russia.

A couple of days ago the responsible committees reviewed the law and made their remarks, with all of them eventually recommending the document for approval. Of course, some notes have been drawn, with further clarification needed regarding taxes, as well as the regulation of the relations between Russian investors and foreign Forex brokers.

Also, there is still some work to be carried out regarding the status of certain specific trading instruments such as binary options and CFDs in Russia. Although the law says Forex dealers will be offering only spot trading with currency pairs, there could be new rules that will somehow regulate these areas and include them in the scope of the Russian laws.

The Law will be now redirected to the president of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin who has two weeks to review it and sign it. The law will come into force in the moment of its publication, with some of the rules becoming effective at a later date.

Thus, the rule that sets maximum leverage at 1:50 will come into force in October 2015. It is worth noting that the Forex self-regulatory organization CRFIN will be arguing for a more relaxed rule in this respect. At least this is what Eugene Masharov, vice-chairman of the governing board of CRFIN said during an online conference on the future of Russia’s retail Forex industry. The organization will push for a minimum leverage of 1:100, with the level raised to 1:200 for some instruments. The outcome of the talks between the organization and the Bank of Russia, however, has yet to be seen.

All of the details and papers regarding the Russian Forex law can be found here.

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