On 8 April 2016, the conference “Asset Management 2016” organized by the Russian National Association of Securities Market Participants (NAUFOR) was held in Moscow.
The conference focused on issues of the collective investment market, a decrease in the operational burden on asset management companies, a greater role of the specialized depository, and a simplified identification of clients in line with the Federal Law №115-FZ. The participants of the discussion included representatives of the Bank of Russia, heads of major asset management companies, specialized depositories and non-government pension funds, as well as trustees.
The delegates paid particular attention to the matters and problems of expanding investment product distribution channels, unifying standards and formats of the collective investment industry, and of information transparency. Speakers pointed out the importance of NSD’s work in this area aimed at creating the Centralized UIT Unit Record Keeping System.
Olga Usanova, Head of the Centralized UIT Unit Record Keeping System project, NSD, took part in the panel session “Retail Products of Asset Management Companies.” The panelists discussed issues of products developed for individual investors, new opportunities for investment units distribution and retail funds creation, as well as requirements to asset management companies’ equity. Yekaterina Gantseva, a representative of NAUFOR, moderated the discussion.
The NSD speaker presented NSD’s Project for Creating a Centralized UIT Unit Record Keeping System in details. This initiative was aimed at preparing conditions and infrastructure for creating the open sales architecture on the primary investment unit market. It was designed to form new distribution channels and facilitate the investment process in the collective investment market.
The project also implies the unification of data interchange formats and standards, the increase in transparency and the standardization of information disclosure. It is to be implemented in a few stages. In 2016, at the first stage, it is planned to create an automated system of purchase, repayment and exchange of UIT units between brokers’ clients using the two-level nominee scheme. The first stage also includes the development and organization of support of the collective investment market’s formats based on the ISO 20022 international standard.