Requirements for qualified players will be increased gradually and repeatedly

The Bank of Russia wants to increase the property qualification for qualified investors, who make up less than 2% of the total, but own more than 70% of assets. By 2026, the level should be 24 million rubles. Market participants criticize the reform, believing that it will lead to a decrease in liquidity, the migration of investors to other jurisdictions and an increase in the risk premium. Experts note that brokers are not selfish in their desire to protect clients: their specific income from one qualified investor is higher than from an unqualified one.

The Central Bank has published a draft directive that changes the requirements for the property qualification for qualified investors: from January 1, 2025, it will increase from the current 6 million rubles. up to 12 million rubles, from January 1, 2026 – up to 24 million rubles.

Discussions about new criteria for qualified investors have been going on for several years. NAUFOR “consistently objects to the expediency and timeliness of increasing the property criterion as the main one used,” emphasized the head of the association, Alexey Timofeev. In 2022, the Central Bank proposed raising the qualification to 30 million rubles, then to 20 million rubles. (see “Kommersant” dated December 23, 2022), in 2023 the idea of ​​a gradual increase in increments of up to 12 million rubles arose. and up to 24 million rubles.

In the fall of 2023, at the NAUFOR conference, brokers spoke out against the introduction of these requirements (see “Kommersant” dated October 13, 2023), noting that the level has increased to 12 million rubles. will make it impossible in the future to obtain status for 42% of investors, up to 24 million rubles – for 47% of investors.

The majority of market participants surveyed by Kommersant did not support tightening even now.

“The reform does not have predetermined criteria for success; it does not set itself the goal of somehow helping the economy,” emphasized Oleg Chikhladze, director of the brokerage business BCS World of Investments.

He considers the level to be 24 million rubles. obviously overpriced. “Inflation since 2015 has been 90%. If we recalculate the size of assets for qualification in developed markets, taking into account the median salary, the level will be 5–9 million rubles,” explains the expert.

Today, qualified investors are the driving force of the Russian market, says Dmitry Lesnov, head of the client service development department of Finam Financial Group. Tightening conditions, in his opinion, “will reduce the attractiveness of the Russian market, and investors will choose foreign brokers for trading.”

There will be many negative consequences for the market, Mr. Chikhladze is sure. Among the short-term ones, he names a decrease in liquidity, the migration of investors to other jurisdictions, an increase in the risk premium; among the medium-term ones – the lack of assets to attract capital by issuers, the lack of incentives to respect the rights of minority shareholders. The long-term consequences, Oleg Chikhladze believes, will be the low size of household financial assets in relation to GDP and, as a consequence, a high burden of social expenditures on the budget.

The position of market participants is not selfish. In general, for brokers, the increase in the number of clients, regardless of their qualifications, is a “significant factor in their activity,” notes Capital Lab partner Evgeniy Shatov. “Due to greater professionalism and activity in the market, as well as the availability of various margin instruments, the broker’s potential specific income per qualified investor is higher than per unqualified one. In addition, qualified investors, as a rule, have a larger volume of assets, so they are of increased interest to the exchange.”

Ksenia Kulikova