Countering Unfair Practices
Countering misconduct is necessary to protect the competitive environment, the interests of financial consumers and the mutual trust of market participants. The Bank of Russia monitors the compliance of all financial market participants with the established rules, and identifies companies engaged in the illegal provision of financial services.
Insider information is specific and concrete information which may significantly affect the price of financial instruments, currencies or commodities that has not previously been published.
The misuse of insider information means market transactions under which the insider obtains additional benefits (insider trading) and the transfer of insider information to other people or recommendations to interested market participants based on it.
Market manipulation means deliberate actions that substantially distort the price, demand, supply or trading volume of a financial instrument, such as the spread of misinformation, the collusion of traders to raise or collapse the price of an instrument, etc.
In 2018, the Bank of Russia set up a Situation Centre for Monitoring Exchange-trading Markets which monitors trading on a real-time basis and identifies trading activity which shows signs of unfair practices.
Insider trading and market manipulation are severely punished, and criminal and administrative liability is established for those guilty of them.
The Bank of Russia identifies companies that provide financial services illegally or swindle people under the guise of lawful activities.
These include, for example, financial pyramids, illegal creditors, illegal brokers or forex dealers and others.
Verification of whether a company may provide financial services is possible on the Bank of Russia website.
Increasingly, illegal services are offered through the Internet, so the Bank of Russia is engaged in identifying phishing sites, the sites of illegal creditors and forex dealers, and other online activities which are unsafe for consumers.
The Bank of Russia and the Yandex and Mail.ru search engines have agreed to mark authorised financial market participants — banks, NPF, MFOs and insurance companies — with a special sign.
If you see this sign, it means that the organisation has a licence or is listed in the Bank of Russia register.
If you become aware of an organisation illegally working in the market, for example, if you see dubious online advertising, please inform the Bank of Russia. You can write to the Online Reception or report anonymously.