Forex brokerage group Alpari said on Wednesday it has applied, through its Russia-registered unit Alpari Forex, to obtain a forex broker license in Russia.
The broker submitted its documents with the Central Bank of Russia (CBR) on 15 December, 2015, and expects to obtain a license in the beginning of the first quarter of next year.
Russia adopted earlier this year regulatory amendments, requiring all forex brokers operating in the country to obtain a license from the CBR, which is in charge of the regulation of the forex market in the country. Otherwise they have to cease operations in the country after 1 January, 2016.
Earlier this week, the central bank granted the first forex broker license in the country to Finam Forex. Another two brokers – TeleTrade and Forex Club, have announced they also filed to obtain licenses to continue acting as forex dealers in Russia.
The new law, which came into force on 1 October, 2015, aims to increase transparency and to push questionable companies out of the market. However, it has not been accepted positively by forex brokers, as they find it restricting and disagree with some of the definitions in it. They have even asked the central bank to rethink the deadline as it is too tight and brokers find it impossible to meet the requirements. They suggest the deadline should be extended by a year. The central bank has showed willingness to negotiate the regulation implementation, but the Russian finance ministry is more cautious in its stance.
Alpari Forex has own funds of more than RUB 100 million.
Alpari is a member of the Russian self-regulatory organization Centre for Regulation in OTC Financial Instruments and Technologies (CRFIN). One of the requirements forex brokers need to meet to obtain a Russiаn license is to join a self-regulatory organization, consisting of at least 10 participants, such as the CRFIN. In addition they should provide open information regarding their financial performance. Alpari was the first forex broker in Russia to reveal on its own initiative its operating metrics.
The Alpari group has offices in Russia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Mauritius, and the UAE. The group’s companies are registered and regulated in Mauritius and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. The group consists of the companies Alpari-Broker (Russia), Alpari Ltd (Saint Vincent and the Grenadines), Alpari International Ltd (Mauritius), Alpari Ltd (Belize). In January 2015, Alpari’s UK branch went insolvent after it saw exceptional volatility and extreme lack of liquidity as a result of the EUR/CHF collapse. The Alpari brand serves more than one million customers in 150 countries. The total global turnover of Alpari in 2014 exceeded $ 2.5 trillion.
Source: Alpari
