Brokers ask the Central Bank to reduce the requirements for qualified investors
The participants of the stock market are asking the Bank of Russia to mitigate the requirements when providing customers with the status of a qualified investor. In particular, they propose to reduce the property qualification and the threshold of minimal annual income. Brokers believe that the implementation of the regulator’s proposals can lead to a reduction in the number of such investors by 70–80%, and most will switch to operations with cryptocurrencies and resort to the services of foreign brokers.
At a meeting of brokerage companies, the National Association of the Stock Market and the Head of the Consumer Protection and Ensuring the availability of Financial Services of the Bank of Russia, Mikhail Mamuta, the regulator’s proposals to tighten qualified investors were discussed at the end of last week. In particular, according to the head of the retail investment business of Alfa-Bank Andrei Nedbailo, the professional participants proposed maintaining a property qualification of 6 million rubles. If the investor has a specialized education, while the regulator insists on increasing the bar to 12 million rubles. (see “Kommers” then March 16). A decrease in the threshold of annual income from the 20 million regulator to 3-5 million rubles was also discussed.
According to the Kommersant source in the financial market, new requirements can significantly reduce the number of investors that meet the established standards.
According to Alfa-Bank, only 0.4% of customers meet current high requirements, while income is over 3 million rubles. About 5% of customers have a year. According to another Kommersant’s interlocutor in the financial market, the Bank of Russia took a week and a half to study the proposals of professional participants. The Central Bank did not respond to Kommersant’s request, but they said that in the near future they would explain their position in detail.
According to the Central Bank, according to the results of 2024, the number of qualified investors in Russia reached 879 thousand people, it increased by almost 20%over the year. The amount of assets on brokerage accounts increased by 45%, to 6.8 trillion rubles. In March 2025, the regulator determined new criteria for obtaining this status. Independent conditions include higher education in the field of finance or a degree in the economy, as well as an income of at least 20 million rubles. per year (excluding income from the sale of real estate). An alternative option – confirmation of assets in the amount of 12 million rubles. (since 2026 – 24 million rubles). Also, the status can be obtained by combining economic education with reduced requirements: income or assets from 6 million rubles. (since 2026 – 12 million rubles).
Market participants also note the redundancy of property census requirements. According to the head of the Broker Service Department of VTB Andrei Yatskov, “the proposed criterion for the average income of the qualinator in the amount of 20 million rubles. Over the past two years, it has been overly overpriced. ” The vast majority of private investors will not be able to obtain the status of a qualified investor on this basis and will focus on combinations of other indicators. Consequently, “income qualification actually loses practical significance, despite the obvious relevance to assess the stable financial condition of the client,” the expert is sure. Dmitry Lesnov, Deputy Director General of the Finams Business Business Business, believes that excessively high property requirements will lead to a reduction in the number of qualified investors by 70–80%.
6.8 trillion rubles
amounted to the value of assets on brokerage accounts of qualified investors at the beginning of 2025
The optimal solution, according to brokers, would be the establishment of an income level of 5-6 million rubles. As Andrei Yatskov notes, « this size already creates a fairly high bar for most Russians and provides a balance between customer protection and the development of the competitiveness of domestic securities markets. » Dmitry Lesnov believes that these requirements « should be reduced in combination with education and experience. »
Therefore, market participants expect that the Central Bank can make partial concessions. Capital Lab partner Evgeny Shatov does not exclude that this can be “a decrease in property qualifications to 10-15 million rubles. or the introduction of the transition period. » The preservation of strict requirements “excluding additional factors can lead to a reduction in liquidity, growth of shadow investment and a slowdown in market development”. In this case, according to Dmitry Lesnov, “outflow of customers in less regulated segments, including cryptocurrencies and services of foreign brokers, can occur, as well as the risks of interaction with scammers will increase.”
