MOSCOW EXCHANGE AND THE COMMUNITY

PROFESSIONAL COMMUNITY

The Exchange is working hard to build constructive dialogue with investors, market participants, current and potential issuers, regulatory agencies and with the professional community, both by direct communication through advisory bodies and working groups, and also at investment conferences, forums and specialized training events. This work helps to attract new investors to the Exchange’s markets, expand the Exchange’s client base, increase liquidity on the financial markets and attract investment into the Russian economy.

EXCHANGE COUNCIL

To ensure efficient interaction with trading participants and clients, a special advisory collegial body, the Exchange Council, which is tasked with elaborating strategic proposals for the development of the Russian financial market, and also represents the interests of market participants and the Exchange’s clients, to ensure that their needs are fully reflected when addressing issues related to the organization and development of financial market infrastructure. The Exchange Council includes management of major market participants, heads of self-regulatory organizations, management companies, investment banks and the Bank of Russia.

The Exchange Council is elected every two years by the Exchange’s Executive Board. The current members of the Exchange Council were approved by the Executive Board in August 2022.

USER COMMITTEES

The Exchange, NCC and NSD convene 23 user committees comprising groups of financial market participants and issuers.

The composition of most user committees is reviewed annually. The members of the committees represent both professional market participants – banks and brokers – as well as issuers, non-financial companies and the regulator, the Bank of Russia.

For many years, the User Committees have been an effective means of communication between Moscow Exchange and the market. Members of the Committees formulate proposals to improve the regulatory framework and develop Moscow Exchange’s products and services. Issues considered at Committee meetings cover all aspects of the Exchange’s activities, from regulation of securities issuance and trading, information disclosure and corporate governance to technological solutions for organising on-exchange trading and clearing and settlements.

A total of 100 meetings of the Committees were held during 2023, at which market participants discussed and provided recommendations on amendments to the Exchange rules, technology and tariffs.

EXPERT COUNCIL ON LISTING

The Expert Council on Listing has operated to improve the quality of securities analysis at admission and maintenance of a security in MOEX’s list. It is responsible for reviewing, analysing and making recommendations on the listing/ delisting of securities, moving companies between the listing levels, suspending trading in securities and other issues.

At the end of 2023, The Expert Council on Listing comprises 49 members, including appraisers, auditors, bankers, lawyers, analysts, investors, methodologists and ESG specialists. Meetings of the Expert Council are held in the format of working groups of subject matter experts of 7–15 people approved by the Chairman of the Expert Council to consider issues on the agenda.

In 2023, the Council held eight meetings and considered 27 issues, including recommendations to amend the Listing Rules to relax the free-float requirements in order to stimulate the IPO market.

The Council’s recommendations were used to delist 31 securities of 12 issuers, add three securities of three issuers to the High Investment Risk Companies sector, remove three securities of two issuers from the High Investment Risk Companies sector, transfer one security from the Tier 2 list to the Tier 3 list, and deny one issuer a new instrument listing.

CORPORATE GOVERNANCE DEVELOPMENT IN RUSSIA

One of the key events in the field of corporate governance and investor relations is the Annual Report Contest which has been held by the Exchange since 1997. The competition helps to increase transparency among public companies and effective information disclosure to investors and customers.

Eighty-five companies, including 11 debutants, took part in the XXVI Annual Report Contest held in 2023. The expert group and judges included heads of the National Association of Stock Market Participants (NAUFOR) and the National Financial Association (NFA), representatives of major consulting companies, news agencies, banks and investment companies, rating agencies, leading financial analysts, representatives of business associations and specialists in corporate governance and communications.

The contest was held in partnership with the business publication Vedomosti, the magazine Joint Stock Company, the economic information agency PRIME, the Interfax information group and the RusBonds portal.

Moscow Exchange was a partner of the of the All-Russian Corporate Governance Forum and the Director of the Year Award, an annual platform for communication and exchange of experience among corporate governance professionals.

In addition, Moscow Exchange was a partner of the session of the XVII National Corporate Secretaries Association (NCSA) Forum, where the Group’s representatives shared Moscow Exchange’s experience in developing corporate governance and relations with issuers and investors.

Moscow Exchange also supported the congress of the Russian Institute of Directors and organised a number of meetings of members of the boards of directors of major Russian companies.

INTERACTION WITH THE INVESTMENT COMMUNITY

For many years, the Exchange has organized its own events and supported major professional financial markets conferences.

In 2023, Moscow Exchange held the annual FX & Money Market Forum and online conference Compliance: Key Trends 2023, partnered with the Innovation Territory of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF 2023), and partnered with the Bank of Russia’s events, Finopolis 2023 Innovative Financial Technologies Forum and Financial Congress.

Moscow Exchange also supported the events of the NAUFOR and NFA self-regulatory organisations, as well as ACI Russia, Cbonds, the Association of Corporate Treasurers, the Association of Retail Investors, the Analytical Credit Rating Agency and the Association of Eurasian Central Securities Depositories.

As part of the MOEX Home Talks series of online meetings, Moscow Exchange representatives talked to company CEOs, discussing doing business in a changing environment, as well as development plans and new opportunities for the Russian economy and private investors. In 2023, three meetings were held with executives of major issuers.

More than 10 ceremonies and roundtables were held to launch new products and admit new securities to trading. The MOEX IR Club, a professional investor communications community, continued its work. Two meetings were held in 2023, at which club members and invited experts discussed current events and shared their experiences.

INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION

In 2023, the Exchange continued to deepen and expand its relationships with overseas trading venues in Southeast Asia, focusing on not only maintaining but also developing existing ties with financial organisations in China and other countries in the region. In addition, engagement with exchanges in the CIS and the Middle East was strengthened, underlining a continued focus on international co-operation and expanding partnerships.

IMPROVING FINANCIAL LITERACY

In 2023, the inflow of private investors to the Exchange continued: over 6.8 million people opened accounts with MOEX in 2023. The total number of individuals with brokerage accounts reached 30.1 million, with 59.8 million brokerage accounts opened by them.

It is important that new investors coming to the financial market stay on it for many years. For this, they need knowledge, positive investment experience, protection of their rights and the widest possible choice of instruments to diversify their investments. To improve financial literacy and expand knowledge of the principles of the exchange and the instruments traded, Moscow Exchange offers specialised courses, events, training seminars and competitions aimed at both improving investment literacy and popularising the investment culture.

In 2023, Moscow Exchange continued to elaborate the Investor’s Way, a training course developed by MOEX with expert support from the Bank of Russia. It covers the key principles of effective investing – from understanding the risks of market operations to knowing investor rights – and explains in a simple format how on-exchange trading is organised. The course is available online on the Moscow Exchange School website and is free of charge for anyone.

In 2023, the course’s audience exceeded 700,000 people. A total of 100,000 people were trained as part of the Moscow Exchange School and more than 80 courses were created.

In 2023, Moscow Exchange introduced a new training course Equity Investment Analysis for all categories of investors. The course covers the basics of analysing public companies and the criteria for selecting shares for an investment portfolio. The course consists of 12 thematic modules and each of which ends with a practical homework.

The Exchange annually organizes competitions to demonstrate the opportunities and potential profitability of competent trading on MOEX to private investors. The ‘Best Private Investor’ contest has been held since 2003 and is the world’s largest exchange competition for traders. A record number of 37,964 private investors competed in the 2023 jubilee contest (the previous high was 26,054 in Best Private Investor 2021). The total assets of the participants exceeded an all-time high of RUB 10.6 billion. For the first time, six issuers of stocks listed on MOEX became partners of the contest. They set their own prizes for participating investors who trade company shares.

More than 1,850 participants traded on the Exchange for the first time in their lives to participate in the special contest nominations for novice investors, which included 405 cash prizes. Among the new nominations of the contest are: “Best Trader in Mid- and Small-cap Stocks”, “Best Trader in Premium-Style Options”, and “Best Trader in Perpetual Futures”. Contestants also received bonuses for their first purchases of people’s bonds on the Finuslugi platform.

In 2023, Moscow Exchange experts made a major contribution to the Bank of Russia’s Financial Literacy Days project. As part of the project, specialists and managers of various financial organisations conduct online lessons on financial literacy for high school students from across the country.