OREANDA-NEWS. Dmitry Medvedev: Good afternoon. Let’s begin with the government programme for the development of financial and insurance markets and the creation of an international financial centre. I have recently held several meetings on this issue, during which we discussed different approaches to developing financial and insurance markets and creating the international financial centre. Now the time has come to approve a government programme to ensure this.

Our goal is to create an efficient financial system that will radically improve investment activity in the country, be competitive in the global markets and use the necessary instruments in the real sector of the economy to ensure balanced economic growth based on innovation. There is considerable demand for instruments of transforming savings into investment on financial markets, although there are certain obstacles. I will speak briefly about several fundamental issues before addressing the essence of the matter.

First, the efforts to improve the stock market, the banking system and insurance mechanisms must be systemic and consistent. The issue has to do with the development of legal and administrative conditions for enhancing the liquidity of financial markets and increasing the number of participants in them, including by simplifying access for foreign investors, and by increasing the volume of the Russian free float. Our companies, primarily companies with state capital, must more actively use Russian venues for their IPOs, as we initially agreed, while at the same time keeping in mind the amount of funds they plan to attract through such offerings. So this is a dual task combining efforts to promote Russian venues and to ensure a successful sale of shares.

I’d like to stress that we must ensure compliance with the rights and interests of the clients of financial service providers, create a corresponding system of compensations and safeguards and promote new financial products, including derivatives. We must adjust our operation to global standards in terms of the availability, accuracy and completeness of information about the operation of our banks, investment funds and insurance companies. We must admit that we are not up to the mark in this respect so far. Our people and investors must be offered comfortable and clear conditions for investing their savings, including pension accruals. Otherwise we will not achieve our goal, which we often discuss, which is to attract long-term investment into the economy.

This will help us to moderate high risks, which are a natural element in the financial sphere, and to reduce market volatility. This should ultimately increase the level of potential investors’ trust, which is a crucial issue for us.

It is also important to promote feedback from financial market participants. So, one of the indicators of success of the government programme should be the opinion of professional market players about the quality of prudential control and government supervision.

We will employ international methods, including the recommendations of the OECD and the International Organisation of Securities Commissions (IOSCO), as well as international ratings. We have an ambitious goal, which we have mentioned more than once: to become one of the top 10 international financial centres by 2020 based on recognised ratings. Also, we must develop independent rating agencies in Russia, as it would be useful to make comparative surveys of non-state pension and investment funds, as well as insurance and asset management companies.

The second issue I’d like to mention concerns the system of regulating financial markets. It should be understandable and transparent to all market participants, as well as being stable. This is what representatives of foreign funds ask for during our meetings. This system should clearly delineate competence and responsibilities, and it should correspond to international standards and rules. At the same time, it should develop in accordance with global laws and be able to react flexibly to external influence. It must react to international financial development trends and, of course, be able to mitigate the risks of global financial instability which, as we know, are currently very high.

There is no ideal system of financial regulation, and maybe it is impossible to create it. But we must seek to minimise national and global financial challenges, taking into account the current situation in the country.