The CBR hiked rates to 17% in 2014 during an oil price shock that caused a deep devaluation in the ruble, but since then it has cut rates several times, bringing them down to 4.25% at the start of this year. The explosion of investments into equities in general, not just foreign listed shares, has been brought about by nearly seven years of consecutive rate cuts by the Central Bank of Russia (CBR) that have brought interest rates down to post-Soviet record lows. There are many differences between the two exchanges, but the key one is that investors can buy these stocks on SPB Exchange using dollars, but MOEX only accepts rubles, adding another layer of FX risk to investments. Trading on SBP Exchange has ballooned in the last two years and equity daily trade volumes are now bigger than those on the better-known rival the Moscow Exchange (MOEX), which also since last summer has offered retail investors access to internationally listed stocks. And most importantly, the St Petersburg-based SPB Exchange has built a unique system that allows punters to register an account in a minute and immediately buy and sell US, and other international stock, even when those markets are closed for trading. The financial market reforms a decade ago mean Russia’s capital markets are hooked seamlessly into the international capital markets.
Russia’s leading banks have begun to focus on retail investments, made easy by the burgeoning fintech explosion where Russia is a world trendsetter. And tired of seeing their savings regularly hammered by the volatile ruble, investing in foreign stocks, denominated in dollars, has ballooned in the last two years.Īll this is possible thanks to a confluence of factors.
Plunging interest rates at bank deposits – long the favoured store of wealth for the average person – have led to a boom in Russians investing into equities. If any questions arise related to the information contained in the translated website, please refer to the English version.Russia is going through a retail investment revolution. Any discrepancies or differences created in the translation are not binding and have no legal effect for compliance or enforcement purposes. The web pages currently in English on the SPB website are the official and accurate source for the program information and services the SPB provides. The SPB is unable to guarantee the accuracy of any translation provided by Google™ Translate and is therefore not liable for any inaccurate information or changes in the formatting of the pages resulting from the use of the translation application tool.
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