Sochi, 18 October, INTERFAX: The Moscow Exchange has signed a memorandum of cooperation with 20 financial market participants and various information web portals to jointly develop the Marketplace project. The news was reported by an Interfax correspondent from the signing ceremony at the Finopolis Forum.

Putting pen to paper were executives from the Moscow Exchange, the National Settlement Depository, Ak Bars Bank, Zenit Bank, Gazprombank, Otkritie Bank, Promsvyazbank, Rosbank, the Russian Agricultural Bank, Sviaz Bank, SKB Bank, Sovcombank, Tinkoff Bank, Uralsib Bank, Center Invest Bank, Expobank, the Banki.ru news agency, the Infinitum specialized depository, Sravni.ru, Unicom, and the Fins.Money service.

According to the Moscow Exchange, the Marketplace project will enable members of the public to view offerings from Russian financial institutions (banks, management companies, and insurance companies) online. They will be able to compare them, and acquire them remotely. The customer can then use their private account area to view information about all their Marketplace acquisitions, and manage them accordingly.

The Moscow Exchange is the operator of the Marketplace platform. It can verify people’s identities, and determine their risk profile. It then offers the opportunity for people to remotely sign agreements to acquire financial products and services, and to pay for them. It sends information on deals to the financial transactions registrar, whose functions are fulfilled by the National Settlement Depository. Once entered in the register, completed deals become legally valid. Information services will create a showcase of the project for customers.

At the initial stage, customers will be provided access to bank deposits, including the ability to remotely open deposits using biometric identification. Up to 20 credit organizations may be connected to the platform at this stage. Later, retail customers will have access to shares in mutual investment funds, government bonds, and insurance and credit products.

The Bank of Russia spearheaded the creation of the Marketplace in 2017, together with market participants. In June 2018 the Bank of Russia and the Moscow Exchange unveiled the prototype of the Marketplace.