Project Group №4 members

Project Group 4. CIS/Eurasian Economic Community/EEC Customs Union cooperation.

CIS/Eurasian Economic Community/EEC Customs Union cooperation Project Group (PG4) was formed in November 2010 and is co-chaired by T.Valovaya and I.Finogenov. The main goal of this Project Group is development of the financial services market in Russia and the border countries, creating a regional financial hub for the neighbor states in Moscow. This Project Group is engaged in the analysis of existing agreements on the common market and the CIS/EEC regulations. The Group also researches effective ways of interaction in the financial markets and the banking industry.

On 9 December 2010, several common market agreements were signed to create a free cash-flow, coordinated macroeconomic policy, common approaches to currency issues and establishment of a unified supranational financial institution for the common market countries. These agreements are a very important step towards capital markets integration in the common market. This will improve market attractiveness for foreign investors and issuers.

Project Group 4 tasks will be completed with input from other Project Groups, but a keystone of PG 4 efforts is the revision of existing interstate agreements, as well as supporting the private sector in building ties with financial institutions and financial infrastructure elements in the region.

The Group is subdivided into three areas:

• financial markets interaction
• banking industry interaction
• analysis of the common market agreements and regulation issues of the CIS and the EEC

The mandate of Project Group 4 is detailed below.

1. CIS/Eurasian Economic Community integrated stock exchange, depositary, and clearing zone formation.

   Effective interaction of infrastructure entities organization: depositories, clearing and processing centres. Unification of disclosure requirements. Unified information data base implementation that would include data on the CIS/Eurasian Economic Community stock markets. Bringing Russian legislation in line with best foreign ownership requirements practice. Possibility of establishing a supranational processing centre.

2. Enhancement of issuing and trading activity on the CIS/Eurasian Economic Community markets.

   Bringing Russian legislation in line with best foreign stock market control practice. Accounting systems unification. Mutual acknowledgement of stock issue registration. Trading rules unification. Instant access to trading on Russian stock exchange for the CIS/Eurasian Economic Community licensed stock market participants. Disclosure system improvement and electronic document management optimization.

3. Boosting Russian stock market attractiveness for the CIS/Eurasian Economic Community countries.

   Establishing foreign nominees. Taking measures for market stimulation. Improving stock market attractiveness for the CIS/Eurasian Economic Community countries.

4. Optimization of the CIS/Eurasian Economic Community countries banking regulation system.

   Bringing the CIS countries legislation in line with best foreign practice in the sphere of banking regulation system and taxes.

5. Payment system simplification.

   Settlement in national currency of the CIS/Eurasian Economic Community countries.

6. Regulatory optimization and drafting new international agreements.

   Determining the extent of effectiveness for international CIS/Eurasian Economic Community/EEC Customs Union agreements. Definition of effectiveness of the CIS agreements.

7. Bringing the CIS countries legislation in line with best foreign practice in the sphere of stock markets regulation.

   Benchmarking of the CIS regulations vs G20 legislation, supranational market regulations best practice analysis. Analysis of the CIS financial markets integration.

8. Simplifying arbitration within the CIS/Eurasian Economic Community/EEC Customs Union.

   Improving mutual recognition of court judgments in the CIS/Eurasian Economic Community. Optimizing financial market arbitration in the CIS/Eurasian Economic Community.

Project Group №4 members