The draft federal law On Amendments to the Code of Administrative Offences of the Russian Federation was drawn up by the Ministry of Finance pursuant to Clause 1, Subclause C, of the List of Presidential Instructions of February 12, 2013 on improving regulation, oversight and control of financial markets.

 The draft law was drawn up as part of the effort to create a single regulator of financial markets in the Russian Federation and granting the Bank of Russia the powers of the Federal Service of Financial Markets (FSFM) to regulate, control and oversee financial markets including insurance activities, credit cooperation and microfinance activity, commodity exchanges, exchange intermediaries and brokers, forming and investing pension funds’ resources, and other powers.

The document stipulates introducing amendments to the Code of Administrative Offences of the Russian Federation related to the transfer of powers on setting administrative penalties from the FSFM to the Bank of Russia.

 The transfer of powers on regulating and oversight over the participants of all the segments in the financial market to a single regulating body will enhance stability in the financial market by decreasing, in particular, regulative arbitration and by improving the quality and efficiency of regulation and oversight over market participants and by easing the administrative load on them.

 The draft law was reviewed and discussed at a meeting of the Government of the Russian Federation on May 30, 2013.