Moscow Interbank Currency Exchange
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The Moscow Interbank Currency Exchange (MICEX) is the largest, most liquid and best organized financial exchange operating in the Russian Federation. Trading hours are 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., Monday through Friday.
[edit] Background and Structure
MICEX is the model for the nationwide system of currency, equity, and derivatives trading in Moscow and in Russia's seven regional exchanges in St. Petersburg, Rostov-on-Don, Yekaterinburg, Samara, Nizhny Novgorod, Novosibirsk, and Vladivostok. MICEX was established in 1992 to handle currency transactions from the former Gosbank of the Soviet Union. It is an independent close joint-stock company with ownership spread among major Russian commercial banks and the Central Bank of the Russian Federation. The Central Banks owns 6 percent, while less than 0.5 percent is held by the Association of Russian Banks, the Government of Moscow, and the Ministry of Finance[[]][] of the Russian Federation. The rest of the shares are evenly split among 30 Russian and CIS banks.
MICEX's electronic trading and depository system links more than 2000 remote work stations installed in banks and other financial institutions in 40 cities in Russian and abroad to the exchange. More than 160 broker systems are connected to the MICEX trading system which serves clients via the Internet; about 70 percent of securities transactions are conducted through the Internet. MICEX operates four separate divisions. Its principal market, currencies, trades on SELT, the MICEX system of electronic lot trading. MICEX trades, the U.S. dollar, Euro and other foreign currencies, and conducts inter-regional foreign exchange (FX) trades. The exchange operates the nationwide system for government securities, including the Russian T-bill (GKO) and bonds of the Bank of Russia, and sub-federal and municipal bonds. Equities trading accounts for 80 percent of total Russian exchange turnover; more than 100 Russian issues are traded. Cash-settled futures on the US dollar and Euro are traded on MICEX's derivatives section. Seven regional exchanges are linked to the MICEX settlement, clearing and depository system, which provides services for some 1500 organizations/ participants of the exchange market.
