Russia’s two main exchanges to merge

Russia’s two main stock exchanges, MISEX, the Moscow Interbank Currency Exchange and RTS, the Russian Trading System, have moved forward with their long awaited merger.

RTS’s top shareholders signed a binding agreement to sell their controlling stake in the bourse. They plan to start operating together in September.

MISEX President Ruben Aganbegyan said: “We are facing economic challenges and we want very much to put the Russian stock market on the same level as the world’s top financial centres, that’s why we need to prepare a strong infrastructure. Thanks to this merger we have created a company with strong intellectual and financial resources, which is able to do that.

The Russian government has been pushing a tie-up between the two rival stock exchanges as part of its plans to improve the country’s financial markets and turn Moscow into a financial centre of global importance.

Analysts now expect the merged markets to try to attract a foreign partner, possibly Deutsche Boerse which is known to have been closely following developments.

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