Vedomosti: two largest financial market associations are again discussing the possibility of merging

The leadership of the National Financial Association (NFA) will include the issue of joining the National Association of Securities Market Participants (NAUFOR) on the agenda of an extraordinary meeting of members of organizations, Vedomosti reports. The meeting will take place on March 15th. In case of a positive decision, the NFA will renounce the status of a self-regulatory organization (SRO) and become part of NAUFOR.

The initiative is given in a letter signed by NFA President Vasily Zablotsky and NAUFOR President Alexei Timofeev, the newspaper specifies. In the event of a merger, members of the NFA will join NAUFOR, but they will be exempted from paying fees for 2023 if they have already paid them to the NFA. Part of the NFA management team and employees will also move to NAUFOR. It is expected that NAUFOR employees will focus on their activities as SROs, NFA – on updating documentation for repurchase agreements, futures transactions, and calculating financial indicators.

The NFA includes 209 accredited participants, NAUFOR – 445. The NFA has been discussing the waiver of the SRO status since February 2022, about which reported “b”. In the spring, the issue of merging SROs was actively discussed, the Central Bank (CB) spoke in support of the idea. After the Central Bank terminates the association’s SRO status, the NFA will have six months to transfer to NAUFOR.

Laura Keffer