On 17–18 December 2015, the 11th Annual International Repo Forum was held in Moscow. Among the forum’s organizers were the National Securities Market Association supported by the Bank of Russia, International Capital Markets Association (ICMA) and National Settlement Depository (NSD). This year’s name of the forum was “Development and stability – against all odds”.
Over the years of its existence, the Repo Forum has become one of the financial market leaders’ key platforms for discussion of the results of the year and setting priorities for the future. This year, Sergei Shvetsov, First Deputy Governor of the Bank of Russia, presented the financial market development strategy for the coming years elaborated by the regulator and invited the financial market participants to discuss it.
More than 300 market participants attended the event. Among them were the Ministry of Finance and the Bank of Russia officials, international organizations and companies (ICMA, Clearstream, Euroclear), representatives of the largest issuers, bankers and professional market participants.
Eddie Astanin, Chairman of the Executive Board, Maria Ivanova, Vice President for Development and Client Relations, and Alina Akchurina, Managing Director, Head of Collateral Management and Tri-Party services, represented NSD at the forum.
On the first day of the event, Maria Ivanova moderated a panel discussion “Crisis is not an obstacle”. Representatives of the ICMA European Repo and Collateral Council, Euroclear, Clearstream and Goldman Sachs Bank took part in the discussion. The topics included innovations in the international repo market, changes in the European repo market made under the pressure from regulatory initiatives, and the alternative sources of liquidity. In addition, the delegates discussed the recent trends in the European infrastructure development (the T2S project and new laws regulating the CSDs’ activities). Implementation of these projects will result in changes in competition between the European CSDs, will reduce transaction costs and increase the efficiency of settlements.
On the second day of the forum, Eddie Astanin spoke at the international session on the economic cooperation with China. He emphasized the importance of the development of the market infrastructure as a basis for interactions on financial markets and presented the results of the company’s activities in this field. For instance, in June 2015, central securities depositories of Russia and China signed a memorandum of understanding. NSD and CCDC agreed on the development of operational interactions via correspondent accounts (“links”). Currently, the depositories elaborate technical details of the joint activities.
Representatives of the largest Chinese (ICBC Bank and the Bank of China) and Russian banks, the central bank and the Moscow exchange also attended the panel. The participants of the discussion noted the two countries’ significant trade turnover and mutual investment interest leading to a need for the modern, efficient and convenient infrastructure. The panel session participants raised a topic of signing a MoU between the central banks of Russia and China; in the delegates’ opinion, this will have a positive impact on the infrastructural cooperation. The audience had a chance to hear firsthand about the specifics of operations on the Chinese market from the key Chinese banks’ representatives who attended the panel session.
Alina Akchurina spoke at the innovative session “Financial market: design for the future”. The session’s participants (the Bank of Russia, Sberbank CIB, Interfax, the Moscow Exchange and the NSMA/ARBR Securitization Committee) discussed new trends and instruments on the Russian market. Ms. Akchurina presented advantages, specifics and prospects of the NSD collateral management system. The session was moderated by Elena Chaikovskaya, Director of the Bank of Russia’s Financial Market Development Department.