The Bank of Russia has developed a draft directive restricting the sale of complex financial products to unqualified investors. The corresponding document is published on the regulator's website.
      According to the regulator, novice investors may suffer losses from complex investment products, which will lead to disappointment in the possibilities of the financial market. According to the project, professional market participants will be prohibited from making some transactions on behalf of or at the expense of unqualified investors before testing. Thus, the prohibition applies to transactions with bonds, the amount of payments for which depends on the occurrence or non-occurrence of certain circumstances. In addition, the regulator will prohibit offering derivative financial instruments to unqualified investors if the contracts are not concluded through organized trading. The project will take effect in 10 days. In mid-December, the Central Bank published a letter recommending not to sell complex investment products to unqualified investors until the introduction of mandatory testing for the right to purchase them.
      According to the law, such testing should begin in April 2022, but the regulator is discussing with the market to transfer it to the beginning of October 2021.