Results of the ACI Russia Council on 24 of August

The next Council of the Association was held in online format (Telegram messenger), at which new members of ACI Russia were accepted. However, the Council decided to abandon the ACI Russia eFX Summit this autumn due to the tense sanctions situation in the world and the absence of foreign participants.

Dealer's Festival 2022 on August, 17

On August 17, 2022, ACI Russia gathered about 300 guests on the Loft Boat at the traditional holiday of the interbank and financial community – Dealer's Fest, dedicated to the Dealer's Day - memories of the default of the Russian Federation in 1998, which determined the development of the market for many years.

Bank of Russia cuts key rate by 150 bp to 8.00% p.a.

The Bank of Russia Board of Directors decided to cut the key rate by 150 basis points to 8.00% per annum. Current consumer price growth rates remain low, contributing to a further slowdown in annual inflation. This is due to both the influence of a set of one-off factors and the subdued consumer demand. Inflation expectations of households and businesses have significantly decreased, reaching the levels of spring 2021. The decline in business activity is slower than the Bank of Russia expected in June. However, the external environment for the Russian economy remains challenging and continues to significantly constrain economic activity.

Waiting for the Central Bank's decision on the rate

The experts expressed their opinion. Most votes were given to the decision to lower the rate by 50 bp. Attention is drawn to the fact that analysts believe that the Central Bank will act more cautiously than they would have acted themselves, being in its place

ACI Russia has sent an official request from its members to the Bank of Russia

ACI Russia, at the request of professional market participants, sent an official letter to the Bank of Russia with a request to clarify the procedure for carrying out certain operations between subsidiary banks-residents of the Russian Federation and parent Head offices – residents of states that carry out unfriendly actions against the Russian Federation. The text of the letter can be found in more detail on the ACI Russia website

GFXC to Continue Work Programme: Reminds Slow Re-Adopters of FX Global Code

The Global Foreign Exchange Committee met in person for the first time since the pandemic hit on June 27-28 and agreed the work programme for the next two years, including a survey of market participants to gauge their reaction to the revised FX Global Code, published in July 2021. During the meeting, the Swiss National Bank's Andréa Maechler, chair of the GFXC, warned that the committee expects those firms yet to renew their Statement of Commitment to the revised Code to "do so shortly"

Bank of Russia cuts key rate by 150 bp to 9.50% p.a.

On 10 June 2022, the Bank of Russia Board of Directors decided to cut the key rate by 150 basis points to 9.50% per annum. The external environment for the Russian economy remains challenging and significantly constrains economic activity. At the same time, inflation is slowing faster and the decline in economic activity is of a smaller magnitude than the Bank of Russia expected in April. Recent data suggest that price growth rates in May and early June have been low. This comes as a result of ruble exchange rate movements and the tailing-off of the surge in consumer demand in the context of a marked decline in inflation expectations of households and businesses.

Moving forward, in its key rate decision-making the Bank of Russia will take into account actual and expected inflation dynamics relative to the target and economic transformation processes, as well as risks posed by domestic and external conditions and the reaction of financial markets. The Bank of Russia will consider the necessity of key rate reduction at its upcoming meetings. According to the Bank of Russia's forecast, given the current monetary policy stance, annual inflation will total 14.0–17.0% in 2022, decline to 5.0–7.0% in 2023 and return to 4% in 2024.

ACI Russia conducted a survey of the professional community on the eve of the vote on the key rate

Most analysts and market participants predict a reduction in the key rate on Friday by 100 b.p. to 10% per annum. The Russian segment is more aggressive in forecasts for rate cuts than the international one

Moscow Exchange trading schedule over June 2022 holidays

Moscow Exchange announces the trading schedule for its markets for June 2022.
On 11-13 June, the Moscow Exchange Equity & Bond, Money, Derivatives, FX and Precious Metals Markets will be closed for trading and settlement of trades due to a holiday weekend.

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Now the Telegram channel @acirussia feed is available on our page on EMCR!
Join the EMC community and subscribe to the channel with vacancies from the financial sector @EMCR_jobs

A meeting of the updated ACI Russia Council was held under the leadership of the new President

The ACI Russia Council held its first meeting in the updated composition in hybrid format. On the agenda questions about the admission of new members of the Association, the organization Council work with new staff, connection with the regulator, making an event plan for ACI Russia until the end of this year and so on were raised.

Bank of Russia cuts key rate by 300 bp to 11.00% p.a.

The Bank of Russia Board of Directors decided to cut the key rate by 300 basis points to 11.00% per annum effective from 27 May 2022. The latest weekly data point to a significant slowdown in the current price growth rates. Inflationary pressure eases on the back of the ruble exchange rate dynamics as well as the noticeable decline in inflation expectations of households and businesses. In April annual inflation reached 17.8%, however, based on the estimate as of 20 May, it slowed down to 17.5%, decreasing faster than in the Bank of Russia's April forecast.

Funds continue to flow into fixed-term ruble deposits while lending activity remains weak. This limits proinflationary risks and makes it necessary to ease monetary conditions.

External conditions for the Russian economy are still challenging, considerably constraining economic activity. Financial stability risks decreased somewhat, enabling a relaxation of some capital control measures.

Moving forward, in its key rate decision-making the Bank of Russia will take into account actual and expected inflation dynamics relative to the target and economic transformation processes, as well as risks posed by domestic and external conditions and the reaction of financial markets, and holds open the prospect of key rate reduction at its upcoming meetings. According to the Bank of Russia's forecast, given the monetary policy stance, annual inflation will decrease to 5.0–7.0% in 2023 and return to 4% in 2024.

The Bank of Russia Board of Directors will hold its next rate review meeting on 10 June 2022. The Board decision press release is to be published at 13:30 Moscow time.

ACI Russia conducted a survey of experts before the extraordinary meeting of The Bank of Russia Board of Directors on the rate

The voting results of ACI Russia members show a wide range of possible decisions of the Central Bank, but, in any case, an emergency meeting seems unlikely to be convened for a slight rate cut

The voting results to the governing bodies of the Association have been aproved

The current Council of ACI Russia approved the results of voting on the election of the President of the Association and members of the Council for 2022-2024

Gaining 70.69% of the votes in FAVOR, Evgeny Egorov (Alfa-Bank) was elected as President of the Association, Dmitry Piskulov (MOEX) was elected as Vice-President of the Association for the next two years,.

According to the results of the vote of 113 members, 15 people were included in the Council of the Association for the term up to 2024:

Vladimir Borisov, OTP Bank
Kirill Vychuzhanin, Alfa-Bank
Alexey Evdokimov, NT Progress
Evgeny Egorov, Alfa-Bank
Aliya Zubkova, Otkritie
Konstantin Zyryanov, Tolyattikhimbank
Veronika Kapranova, Bank of Russia
Alexander Kiryanov, DELTA
Vladimir Kozinets, Rolf
Mikhail Nazarov, Sovcombank
Mikhail Petushkov, Unicreditbank
Dmitry Piskulov, MOEX
Anna Senina, Refinitiv
Andrey Sumin, Sberbank
Vladimir Yarovoy, MOEX

The plans of the updated management bodies of ACI Russia – The Financial Markets Association - continue to unite the community of financial market professionals, provide a platform for discussions on the topics of market development, its regulation and removal of restrictions, provide an information platform for analysts and opinion leaders.

In the next 2 weeks, it is planned to hold a meeting of the Council in a new composition and approve the action plan and goals of the Association by the end of the year.

The ACI Russia Congress 2022 was held in an online format in Zoom

Speakers at the Congress were: Sergey Romanchuk, President of ACI Russia, Head of Trading, Metallinvestbank; Dmitry Piskulov, Vice President of ACI Russia, Director, International Projects, MOEX; Pavel Pikulev, Chief Strategist for macro, FX & rates, Treasury, Sberbank; Viktor Tunev, Chief Analyst, Ingosstrakh Investments Management Company; Dmitry Polevoy, Director for investments, Loco-Invest. Evgeny Egorov, Head of Algorithmic Trading, Alfa-Bank, was elected the host of the Congress.

Sergey Romanchuk briefly spoke about the work carried out by the association over the past year, fulfilling its mission – uniting professional market participants based on commitment to common values: ethical professional code, improving the level of education and professionalism, open unifying communication. The work was organized along several lines: organizing events, working with the regulator through the The Moscow FX Joint Standing Committee of the SRO NFA, participation in the Global Foreign Exchange Committee. The peak of this work was to be the holding of the ACI FMA Global Congress in Moscow in the fall of 2022, but due to new external conditions, its holding in the Russian Federation was canceled.

Dmitry Piskulov spoke about the successful work with the Bank of Russia on changing the methodology for calculating the official ruble exchange rate and educational projects.

In the second panel, Vladimir Yarovoy shared how the MOEX is coping with current challenges and shared plans to launch new products and services and answered questions from Evgeny Egorov and the participants of the Congress.

The panel on macroeconomics, moderated by Konstantin Zyryanov, ACI Russia Board Member, Chairman of the Management Board, Tolyattikhimbank, assessed the current economic situation and made some forecasts for the future.

At the end of the Congress, they were given the opportunity to submit their candidacies to the ACI Russia Council for the next two years (its number was determined at 15 people), as well as to the posts of President and Vice President, where Evgeny Egorov (Alfa-Bank)/Dmitry Piskulov (MOEX) and Alexey Evdokimov (NTPro) /Mikhail Petushkov (Unicreditbank) were nominated. After the Congress, the procedure of electronic absentee voting on the nominated candidates was launched, the results of which will be summed up on May 25, 2022 by the election (counting) commission, which included Sergey Romanchuk (Metallinvestbank) and Andrey Skabelin (MOEX), who did not submit their candidacies to the governing bodies of the association for a new term.

The elections of the President and Council of ACI Russia will be held online in May 2022

On Thursday, April 28, the ACI Russia Council decided to schedule the next elections of the President and Council of the Association for May 2022. In this regard, the ACI Russia Congress 2022 will be held online on May 17.

Any member of ACI Russia can nominate his candidacy for the positions of President, Vice President and member of the Council by 17:00 on May 16, 2022. Please, send your applications in a free form with your full name, email address, contact phone number and desired position in the management bodies of ACI Russia to the mail acirussia@gmail.com. Also let me know if you are ready to become a member of the election commission.

After checking your application, your candidacy will be submitted to a general electronic vote.

The decision is made by a simple majority of the votes of those who took part in the voting. The voting results will be announced and published on the official website of ACI Russia acirussia.org, in social networks, as well as in the e-mail newsletter.

The current President, Sergey Romanchuk, has decided not to nominate his candidacy for the post of President and member of the Council of ACI Russia for a new term.

The Bank of Russia cuts the key rate by 300 b.p. to 14.00% p.a.

On 29 April 2022, the Bank of Russia Board of Directors decided to cut the key rate by 300 basis points to 14.00% per annum. The external environment for the Russian economy remains challenging and significantly constrains economic activity. With price and financial stability risks no longer on the rise, conditions have allowed for the key rate reduction. Recent weekly data indicate a slowdown in current price growth rates on the back of a strengthening of the ruble and a cooling of consumer activity. Further inflation movements will be shaped by such impactful factors as the efficiency of import substitution processes and the scale and speed at which imports of finished goods, raw materials and components will be recovering. The Bank of Russia's monetary policy will take into the account the need for a structural transformation of the economy and will ensure a return of inflation to target in 2024.

ACI Russia conducted a regular survey about key rate decision

The participants of the ACI Russia survey, unlike the Bloomberg survey, do not rule out a sharper reduction in the key rate - up to 14% at once. At the same time, some see a space of opportunities for reducing immediately to the level of 10% per annum, although no one expects such a sharp movement from the Central Bank.

Bank of Russia changes procedure for calculating official exchange rates

To ensure business continuity of economic agents in the Russian Federation, the Bank of Russia switches to setting official exchange rates of foreign currencies against the ruble as of 15:30 Moscow time.

The US dollar/ruble exchange rate will be calculated on the basis of the Moscow Exchange data on the weighted average USD/RUB exchange rate for transactions carried out from 10:00 to 15:30 Moscow time. Previously, the calculation period was from 10:00 to 16:30 Moscow time.

Additionally, in order to improve the representativeness of the official exchange rates of the euro and yuan against the ruble, the Bank of Russia is to use the methodology similar to the calculation of the US dollar official exchange rate, namely, based on the weighted average exchange rates of the euro and yuan against the ruble calculated for transactions carried out at on-exchange trading organised by the Moscow Exchange from 10:00 to 15:30 Moscow time.

Elvira Nabiullina appointed to the post of Chairman of the Bank of Russia

Elvira Nabiullina's speech at State Duma's plenary session on Bank of Russia's 2021 Annual Report

The Bank of Russia cuts the key rate by 300 bp to 17.00% p.a.

The Bank of Russia Board of Directors decided to cut the key rate by 300 basis points to 17.00% per annum from 11 April 2022. External conditions for the Russian economy are still challenging, considerably constraining economic activity. Financial stability risks are still present, but have ceased to increase for the time being, including owing to the adopted capital control measures. There is a steady inflow of funds to fixed-term deposits. Annual inflation will continue to rise due to the base effect. Yet, the latest weekly data point to a noticeable slowdown in the current price growth rates, including owing to the ruble's exchange rate dynamics. The tightening of monetary conditions already in place is partly offset by the lending support programmes launched by the Government and the Bank of Russia, but it will continue to limit pro-inflationary risks.

Buehler Named Deputy CEO at XTX as Amrolia Set to Step Down

XTX Markets is preparing for a change of leadership with the news that Zar Amrolia, co-CEO of the firm, will retire from executive duties in early 2023.

Renewed Statement of Commitment to the FX Global Code

The Federal Reserve Bank of New York (New York Fed) today released its renewed Statement of Commitment to the FX Global Code (Code). The Code, which was initially published May 2017, is a set of global principles of good practice in the foreign exchange market, developed to provide a common set of guidelines to promote the integrity and effective functioning of the wholesale foreign exchange market. It was developed by a partnership between central banks and Market Participants from around the globe and most recently was updated in July 2021.

LMAX, Six, to Launch 24/7 Crypto Futures

LMAX Group has partnered with European exchange group Six to launch cash-settled, centrally cleared crypto-asset futures, as the product offering in this asset class ramps up further to meet what is expected to be growing institutional demand for digital assets generally.

Malaysia Should Adopt Crypto as Legal Tender, Ministry Says

Malaysia should adopt Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies as legal tender, the deputy minister of the Communications and Multimedia Ministry said.

The Bank of Russia has decided to keep the key rate at 20% per annum

Against the background of radically changed external conditions, a sharp increase in the key rate by the Bank of Russia on February 28 supported financial stability and prevented uncontrolled price growth. The Russian economy is entering a phase of large-scale structural adjustment, which will be accompanied by a temporary but inevitable period of increased inflation. The monetary policy pursued by the Bank of Russia will create conditions for the gradual adaptation of the economy to new conditions and the return of annual inflation to 4% in 2024.

ACI Russia conducted a regular survey about key rate decision

Surveys of both Bloomberg analysts and members of ACI Russia show unanimity - the majority believes that the Bank of Russia will leave the key rate unchanged, although there is some probability of continued tightening of monetary policy

Former GFXC Chair and RBA Deputy Governor Debelle Exits Central Bank

The Reserve Bank of Australia has announced that deputy governor Guy Debelle is leaving the central bank after 25 years to take up the role of chief financial officer of Fortescue Future Industries, the green energy and product arm of Fortescue Mining.

The Moscow Exchange has provided customers with the MOEX Dealing messaging service

The Moscow Exchange has provided professional market participants – banks, brokers, management companies, pension funds – with the MOEX Dealing messaging service. The service allows you to enter into transactions on the OTC market with various assets through secure exchange communication channels.

Clients have access to the functionality of negotiating the terms and fixing the status of over-the-counter spot and swap transactions with currencies, interbank lending transactions, as well as purchase and sale and repo transactions with securities.

The Moscow Exchange acts as the administrator of the service, identifies participants and ensures the storage of user negotiation protocols, which increases the reliability and convenience of the service.

Access to the system is provided to customers using a universal connection scheme or ConnectME service

The Bank of Russia introduces a temporary procedure for operations with cash currency

From March 9 to September 9, 2022 , the Bank of Russia establishes the new procedure for issuing funds from foreign currency deposits or accounts of citizens

Announcement: Location Change - 60th ACI FMA World Congress

During the 59th ACI World Congress and 45th ICA Conference, held in Dubai last November, it was announced that the next ACI World Congress would take place in October 2022 in Moscow.

Considering the current events in this region, the ACI FMA Management Board, in close collaboration with ACI Russia, has decided to relocate the 60th ACI World Congress and will announce the new venue and date shortly. ACI FMA will host the event in the last quarter of 2022, most likely in October or November.

ACI FMA represents 59 National Associations globally and one of its objectives is to always ensure the safety and well-being of its representatives.

We are closely following the developments of this conflict and hope that the situation will be resolved quickly without further impact.

Thank you for your continuous support and commitment.

Kind regards,

ACI FMA Management Board

On the mandatory sale of revenue in foreign currency by exporters

Based on the proposals of the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation and the Bank of Russia, a decision will be made today to introduce, from February 28, 2022, for residents participating in foreign economic activity, a mandatory sale of foreign currency in the amount of 80% of the revenue owed to residents under all foreign trade agreements.

Bank of Russia decided to raise the key rate from February 28, 2022 to 20% per annum

The external conditions for the Russian economy have changed dramatically. An increase in the key rate will ensure an increase in deposit rates to the levels necessary to compensate for increased devaluation and inflation risks. This will help maintain financial and price stability and protect citizens' savings from depreciation.

The Bank of Russia will make further decisions on the key rate based on the assessment of risks from external and internal conditions and the reaction of financial markets to them and taking into account the actual and expected dynamics of inflation relative to the target, economic development on the forecast horizon.

SRO NFA sent proposals to the Bank of Russia on adapting the financial market to the current conditions

SRO NFA has sent proposals to the Bank of Russia on adapting the financial market to the current conditions.
The proposals are collected from financial market participants and include the most relevant initiatives to date.
The package of proposals includes measures to support credit and non-credit financial organizations, comments on the suspension of short sales on the exchange and over-the-counter markets, actions to offset the effects of volatility on investors, measures to maintain the liquidity of the REPO market, proposals to ensure compliance with liquidity and capital adequacy standards, ways to support the Russian precious metals market, comprehensive measures in terms of ratings and a number of other measures.

Appeal to private investors from MOEX

The Board of MOEX, consisting of representatives of the largest financial market participants, discussed the current situation.
Markets are experiencing extraordinary volatility. We recommend that private investors refrain from excessive emotional reaction and, if possible, refrain from rash transactions.
As long-term practice shows, this can negatively affect the financial results of investments.
The financial authorities of the country have all the necessary resources and are taking measures to stabilize the situation in the markets.

Trading on MOEX during the holidays of February 23 and March 8, 2022

MOEX reminds that during public holidays on February 23 and March 8, 2022, trades will be held on the FX market and the precious metals market, stock, money, derivatives markets and standardised OTC derivatives market.

Renewal of Statements of Commitment to the FX Global Code

We would like to inform you that, this week, all members of the European System of Central Banks (ESCB) have
simultaneously renewed their Statements of Commitment to the FX Global Code, in order to reflect their strong
commitment to the new version of the Code that was published in July 2021.

The members of the ESCB comprise of the European Central Bank (ECB) and the National Central Banks of all
member states of the European Union. With the renewal of these Statements, the ESCB members further
emphasise that adherence and application of all the Code's principles is extremely relevant in ensuring that the
FX Market functions in an effective manner and with continuous integrity.

ACI FMA ELAC - Bring Codes of Conduct and Good Market Practices to Life

ELAC is the ACI FMA Online Portal providing continuous training and certification for Codes of Conduct and Good Market Practices in financial markets, contextualised for industry sectors and financial markets participants, whilst being relevant to their role and experience level.

ACI FMA ELAC training promotes the highest global standards of professionalism, competence and ethical conduct in Financial Markets.

Please watch the video for a detailed presentation of the ACI FMA ELAC Portal (for E-Learning, Attestation and Certification) on Industry Codes of Good Market Practices.

ACI FMA issues a Statement of Support to the FX Global Code

ACI FMA'S initiative that further demonstrates support to the FX Global Code.

As mentioned in our press release of 15th July 2021, ACI FMA is extremely pleased with the new version of the FX Global Code published on that day, as we firmly believe the Code continues to represent a very important set of guidelines for ethical and professional behaviour to all professionals in the wholesale FX Market.

In order to further show our continuous support to the work of the Global Foreign Exchange Committee (GFXC) that ensured the new version remains relevant and up to date, ACI FMA has decided to issue a Statement of Support of the FX Global Code which was addressed to Guy Debelle, Chair of the GFXC.

Our contribution to the continual evolution of the Code started from its inception and we are proud to share with the financial markets industry, on an ongoing basis, the valuable opinions of our members who are longstanding proponents and influencers of the highest standards of ethical and professional conduct.

We have also issued a Statement of Support to the UK Money Markets Code and we will continue to be strongly supportive of these types of guidelines that are essential to and are definitely helping to create more fair, liquid, open and appropriately transparent markets.

Therefore, ACI FMA remains committed to promoting worldwide adherence to these initiatives that aim to implement the adoption of good market practices in the roles of financial market professionals.

European System of Central Banks renews Statements of Commitment to FX Global Code

• FX Global Code promotes robust, fair, liquid, open and appropriately transparent foreign exchange market
• European System of Central Banks publicly reaffirms commitment to updated Code
• Code first published in 2017 and updated mid-2021

The European System of Central Banks (ESCB) welcomes the July 2021 update of the FX Global Code and the publication of related guidance material. With this global code on foreign exchange, participants in foreign exchange markets aim to promote a robust, fair, liquid, open and appropriately transparent foreign exchange market underpinned by high ethical standards. The Code has been updated by the Global Foreign Exchange Committee to keep it relevant and aligned with the ongoing evolution of the foreign exchange market and will continue to set the standard for good market practice. Well-functioning financial markets benefit all market participants and are important to central banks because they ensure the smooth transmission of monetary policy to the real economy. This ultimately benefits the public at large.

Today all members of the ESCB, including the European Central Bank (ECB), simultaneously issued renewed Statements of Commitment to the Code. This demonstrates their strong commitment to adhere to its principles when acting as foreign exchange market participants, to align their internal practices and processes with its updated principles, and to support and promote adherence to the Code. With these Statements of Commitment, they emphasise that the principles of the Code are important in ensuring the continued integrity and effective functioning of the foreign exchange market. To fully achieve the objective of the Code, the EU central banks also encourage foreign exchange market participants in their jurisdictions to review the updated Code and renew their Statements of Commitment.

The Bank of Russia has decided to raise the key rate by 100 bps, to 9.50% per annum

Inflation is significantly higher than the October forecast of the Bank of Russia. The expansion of demand continues to outpace the possibilities of increasing output. The rapid growth of economic activity with limited available labor resources increases inflationary pressure. The conjuncture of the world commodity markets remains inflationary. Inflation expectations are not decreasing yet, remaining at multi-year highs. Under these conditions, the balance of risks for inflation has shifted even more towards pro-inflationary ones. The monetary policy pursued by the Bank of Russia is aimed at returning inflation to 4%.

Medium-term forecast of the Bank of Russia based on the results of the meeting of the Board of Directors on the key rate on February 11, 2022

ACI Russia conducted a regular survey about key rate decision

Before tomorrow's decision of the Bank of Russia on the key rate, the data from the Bloomberg survey of economists mostly coincide with the internal survey of ACI Russia, most are waiting for the rate to rise by 1%. At the same time, if the decision were made by the market, then the distribution of preferences is shifted downwards - a noticeable number of voting participants consider it sufficient to raise the rate by 0.5%, a smaller number would vote not to raise the rate at all, and the same number would vote for a bigger step up.

GDF's yearly compendium review of the crypto and digital assets industry includes contributions from industry leaders, financial institutions, regulators, and policymakers on the extraordinary growth in the digital asset sector throughout the past year.

Comment of the Bank of Russia on operations under the budget rule

The Bank of Russia has decided not to purchase foreign currency on the domestic market as part of the implementation of the budget rule mechanism from 15:00 Moscow time on January 24, 2022.

This decision was made in order to increase the predictability of the actions of the monetary authorities and reduce the volatility of financial markets. The decision to resume the purchase of foreign currency within the framework of the implementation of the mechanism of the budget rule will be made taking into account the actual situation in the financial markets.

For a nation's economy to function effectively, its citizens must have confidence in its money and payment services. The Federal Reserve, as the nation's central bank, works to maintain the public's confidence by fostering monetary stability, financial stability, and a safe and efficient payment system.

This paper is the first step in a public discussion between the Federal Reserve and stakeholders about central bank digital currencies (CBDCs). For the purpose of this paper, a CBDC is defined as a digital liability of a central bank that is widely available to the general public. In this respect, it is analogous to a digital form of paper money. The paper has been designed to foster a broad and transparent public dialogue about CBDCs in general, and about the potential benefits and risks of a U.S. CBDC. The paper is not intended to advance any specific policy outcome, nor is it intended to signal that the Federal Reserve will make any imminent decisions about the appropriateness of issuing a U.S. CBDC.

ACI Russia continues to accept new members

On Friday, January 21, the Association Council was held by electronic voting. The Council discussed the issue of admission of new members to the Association

ACI Russia, the regional public organization of financial market professionals, took stock of the year and announced the winners of the contest of achievements and innovations in the Russian foreign exchange and money markets at the festive New Year's party on Monday, December 27, in the Mandarin Combustible bar.

The competition was open to all financial institutions that did something new in 2021 or achieved significant success, marked by prestigious market awards. Applications are submitted to the Council of ACI Russia, which decides, choosing the most significant ones.

Alfa-Bank was awarded for the world's only algorithmic emulation of the work of a person at the Refinitiv FX Trading Dealing terminal in the maker, taker and netting confirmation mode.

VTB - for the expansion of the electronic product line by adding forwards and swaps.

Moscow Exchange - for new solutions for clearing over-the-counter currency transactions through a central counterparty and for contributing to the development of financial literacy in the field of interest rate risk management.

Raiffeisenbank - for the development of a trading platform for FX, hedging transactions and structural deposits directly in the client-bank application and for entering the exchange market and leadership in the over-the-counter market of the Kazakh tenge (according to surveys of international brokers and banks).

Sberbank - for the first place in the nominations "Best FX Trading Solution" and "Best FX Solution for SME" according to Global Finance magazine.

Also awarded were Nikolay Panyukov (Centrocredit Bank), the leader of the regular ACI Russia forecast contest on the decision on the key rate of the Bank of Russia; Egor Susin (Gazprombank), the most active participant in the weekly PRO MARKETS – ACI RUSSIA calls and Vadim Meshcheryakov (VTB), who passed the ACI Online FX Global Code Exam with the highest score.

ACI Russia was founded in 2004, is affiliated with the international ACI-FMA and currently unites about 400 people who are professional participants in the financial market, acts as an independent expert platform of the FX and money market and organizer of events. The news feed, survey results and information about past and future events can be found on the our website.

The final Council of ACI Russia was held in 2021

The number of ACI Russia members now stands at 400 participants

About the Council December 22, 2021

The ACI Russia Council met via ZOOM to accept new members of the Association

The Board of Directors of the Bank of Russia decided to raise the key rate by 100 bps, to 8.50% per annum

Inflation is higher than the October forecast of the Bank of Russia. The contribution to inflation from stable factors remains significant due to the faster expansion of demand compared to the possibilities of increasing output. In these conditions and taking into account the growing inflation expectations, the balance of risks for inflation is significantly shifted towards pro-inflationary ones. This may lead to a more significant and prolonged upward deviation of inflation from the target. The monetary policy pursued by the Bank of Russia is aimed at limiting this risk and returning inflation to 4%.

ACI Russia conducted a regular survey about key rate decision

A rare unanimity: the polls in the ACI Russia and Bloomberg group are distributed almost equally, but the participants themselves are slightly milder than the forecast regarding the actions of the Central Bank.

Hereby we confirm that according to agreements with main market players, exchanges and vendors we strongly recommend using following market conventions for USDRUB standard spot value date (which is T+1 in usual time) during the coming holidays in Russia:

ACI Russia New Year 2022 & Xmas Party

ACI Russia invites guests to a New Year's party on December 27, 2021, which will be held at the Mandarin Combustible bar (Moscow, Maly Cherkassky Lane, 2).
This is a traditional festive event of the Association for summing up the results of the year, where guests will receive awards, contests, congratulations from colleagues and friends, gifts from Santa Claus, as well as a great New Year mood!
Participate in contests, get prizes!

The sponsor of the New Year's party ACI Russia is the Moscow Exchange.

Participation in the party is only possible for ACI Russia members and those wishing to join the Association. Pre-registration is required

About the Council December 10, 2021

The Council of ACI Russia was held via Zoom. It discussed issues on the admission of new members to the Association, the amount of the ruble equivalent of the ACI FMA membership fee for 2022, the action plan for next year, including the holding of the ACI WORLD CONGRESS in autumn 2022 in Moscow. Following the results of the Council, it was also decided to hold a New Year's party and summarize the results of the year on December 27.

60th ACI WORLD CONGRESS GOES TO MOSCOW!

Next year, Russia will host the ACI FMA International Congress for the first time. The decision matured for many years, but it was made almost instantly - during meetings in Dubai. The members of the ACI Russia Council and the Bank of Russia promptly supported the idea, so that the flag of the association was transferred to Russia for storage for one year.
The idea of organizing the congress is to use the successful experience of organizing the ACI Russia eFX Summit in Moscow and combine efforts to make a larger event based on it and attract a large number of guests from all over the world.
The history of ACI Congresses dates back to 1957, and we hope that we will be able to successfully continue this wonderful tradition.

ACI FMA Insights Nº 6

We are delighted to inform that the 6th edition of ACI FMA Insights Newsletter has been launched and it's now available!
This issue is dedicated to the 59th ACI World Congress and 45th ICA Conference that are taking place in Dubai from 17th to 20th November 2021. In addition, in this new edition, you can also find a testimony from John Estrada, the new Chair of the ACI FMA FX Committee (FXC) and the detailed view of this global event through the eyes of the UAE Financial Markets Association and its Chairman, Mohammed Al Hashemi.

Congratulations to ACI Russia Board member Konstantin Zyryanov on his new appointment!

The Chairman of the Management Board has been replaced in Tolyattikhimbank. This post was taken by Konstantin Zyryanov, according to the website of the credit institution.
As specified, on October 19, the extraordinary general meeting of shareholders of Tolyattikhimbank decided to terminate the powers of Andrei Drobotov as a chairman. Zyryanov, whose candidacy was approved by the Department of admission and termination of the activities of financial organizations of the Central Bank, took office on October 20

On October 25, 2021, the fourth annual summit on electronic trading in the FX market - ACI Russia eFX Summit 2021 - was held in Moscow at the Lotte Hotel

The fourth international conference on electronic foreign exchange trading was held on October 25, 2021 at the Lotte Hotel in Moscow. For epidemiological safety reasons, the number of guests at the hotel was limited, and the event took place in a "hybrid" format: the hall and exhibition were visited by around 250 people, while 238 unique users were connected to the web video broadcasts. Some of the conference speakers connected to the audience online via video link.

The Bank of Russia has decided to raise the key rate by 75 bps, to 7.50% per annum

The Board of Directors of the Bank of Russia decided to raise the key rate by 75 bps, to 7.50% per annum. Inflation is significantly higher than the forecast of the Bank of Russia and by the end of 2021 is expected in the range of 7.4-7.9%.

ACI Russia conducted a regular survey about key rate decision

Questions on ACI Russia and Bloomberg give approximately the same probability of the Bank of Russia raising the key rate by 0.25% and 0.5%. There are no particular discrepancies in the estimates, but there is polarization in the recommendations for the Central Bank: a larger number of ACI Russia participants are in favor of a more decisive step, while a noticeable number consider it necessary to leave the rate unchanged.

New ACI FMA FX Committee Chair and Vice-Chair

We are pleased to announce that John Estrada, member of the ACI FX Committee, has been appointed ACI FX Committee Chair and will be working alongside Jonathan Healey, member of the ACI FXC, appointed ACI FX Committee Vice-Chair.

The Council of the Association was held by absentee voting. The issue of accepting new members to ACI Russia was on the agenda. All the details are recorded in the minutes of the Council

About the Council October 1, 2021

The Council of the Association was held by absentee voting. The issue of accepting new members to ACI Russia was on the agenda. All the details are recorded in the minutes of the Council

The annual ACI eFX Summit brings together all participants of the financial industry to discuss current factors and trends affecting the foreign exchange market, such as: algorithmic trading, market liquidity, code of conduct, innovations of trading platforms, macroeconomics, development of research and analytical technologies.
At the summit representatives of electronic trading platforms, data centers, equipment suppliers, professionals from sell side and buy side in the FX market, heads of central banks of different countries share their views and perspectives.
To maximize the benefits for Summit participants and not to put you in danger, the Summit will be held in a hybrid format: online and offline

The event will be held at the Lotte Hotel (Moscow, Novinsky blvd., 8, p. 2) from 8.30 to 21.00 and will gather no more than 300 participants. The participants who registered offline first will have priority.

ACI Russia conducted a regular survey about key rate decision

This time, a survey in the ACI Russia group showed clustering around two fundamentally different approaches: raise the rate (and then immediately by 0.5%) or keep it. At the same time, the voting participants did not make any special differences between the prediction and the wish. However, an increase in the rate to 7.00%, one way or another, looks inevitable

The Bank of Russia has decided to raise the key rate by 100 bps, to 6.50% per annum

The Board of Directors of the Bank of Russia decided to raise the key rate by 100 bps, to 6.50% per annum. According to the estimates of the Bank of Russia, in the second quarter of 2021, the Russian economy reached a pandemic level. The contribution to inflation from stable factors increased due to the faster expansion of demand compared to the possibilities of increasing output. Taking into account high inflation expectations, this has significantly shifted the balance of risks for inflation towards pro-inflationary ones and may lead to a longer deviation of inflation upward from the target. The decision on the key rate is aimed at limiting this risk and returning inflation to 4%.

The Updated Version of the FX Global Code Has Been Published Text

The Global FX Committee has updated the FX Global Code today.
After months of intense work by the Global Foreign Exchange Committee (GFXC), ACI FMA is pleased to inform you that the updated version of the FX Global Code has been published today on the GFXC's website.
The original version of this Code was published in May 2017 and was, subsequently, updated in August 2018. The updated version, which is now released, has been long-awaited, as its publication was originally estimated for 2020 but was delayed due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Council of ACI Russia – The Financial Markets Association has decided to cancel the Dealer's Day party on August 17, 2021

Due to the measures taken by the Government of the Russian Federation, the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation, Rospotrebnadzor of the Russian Federation and the Government of Moscow to counter the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus infection, the Council of ACI Russia – The Financial Markets Association is also aware of its social responsibility and in order to ensure the sanitary safety of our members, event participants, speakers, guests, has decided to cancel the Dealer's Day party on August 17, 2021.
We also urge all ACI Russia members who do not have medical contraindications to get vaccinated against COVID-19, observe safety measures and protect their health and the lives of people around you. At the moment,
At the moment, ACI Russia is actively preparing for the international eFX Summit 2021, which is scheduled for October 21, 2021 at the Lotte Hotel in a hybrid format. We sincerely hope that the epidemiological situation in the world will significantly improve by this date and we will be able to hold a full-fledged offline event and a large-scale party at the end.

The Bank of Russia has decided to raise the key rate by 50 bps, to 5.50% per annum

The Russian and global economies are recovering faster than previously expected. Inflation is higher than the forecast of the Bank of Russia. The contribution to inflation from sustainable factors increases due to the faster expansion of demand compared to the opportunities for increasing output. On the short-term horizon, this impact is amplified by rising prices on global commodity markets. Taking into account high inflation expectations, the balance of risks has significantly shifted towards pro-inflationary ones.

ACI Russia conducted a regular survey before the Central Bank of Russia key rate decision

Rate survey results: ACI Russia participants are much more strongly in the upward direction than economists surveyed by Bloomberg