CIS stock market regulators to agree on information exchange

MOSCOW, December 19 (RIA Novosti) - Stock market regulating bodies from member countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) will draft a final agreement on the exchange of confidential information for investor protection by June 2006, a Russian official said Monday.

Vladislav Streltsov, the deputy head of the Federal Financial Markets Service (FFMS), said that the Council of the Heads of the CIS Government Bodies for Securities Markets Regulation had discussed the draft Monday and given it preliminary approval.

He added that the document would be finalized and submitted for final approval by March 1, while regulations on disclosing statistical information on financial markets, also endorsed by the Council, would be improved before February 15.

The Council also discussed its plan for 2006-2007. According to Streltsov, the plan aims to harmonize approaches to the development of CIS legislation to provide access for professional traders to CIS stock markets.

The Council focused on the issue of opening corresponding accounts and the accounts of nominal holders and on the disclosure of information on CIS financial markets and issuers.

Streltsov also said that the FFMS should be given powers to sign bilateral agreements under Russian legislation to integrate the CIS trading floors.