Finance Ministry To Hold Tender For Payment Agents For Securities

In the first half of December the Finance Ministry of Russia will announce a tender to select a trading site, a depository and an agent for payments to service securities for institutional investors, such as insurance companies, non-governmental pension funds, and investment funds, Deputy Finance Minister Bella Zlatkis told reporters today. She pointed out that all necessary government instructions regulating the issue of these securities had already been adopted. According to Zlatkis, the Finance Ministry is currently seeking approval of the documents setting regulations on the tender by respective government agencies. The deputy minister remarked that since no secondary market for these securities is planned, high technical requirements for market operations would not be among the conditions for the tender. At the same time, there will be "very strict" requirements for depositories, as well as for the payment agent, which should have a broad payment network. The criteria for the selection will be the volume of equity, the volume of services provided, and the absence of complaints. The results of the tender may be announced in the middle of January 2002.