The Association Of Forex Dealers stands as the self-regulatory body for Russia, and has made an announcement on Thursday. This announcement pertained to Forex dealers in the country’s over-the-counter (OTC) space now being able to onboard clients by way of remote verification. Through doing so, physical presence, as was necessary previously, will now be a thing of the past, at least in the OTC space.

These relaxed rules had already come into effect on the 11th of January, 2021, after Vladimir Putin, the President of Russia, signed off on these amendments.

However, this law will make use of very interesting technologies. Organizations and credit institutions carrying out property or monetary fund transactions, and regulated under the Bank of Russia, will be mandated to use the Unified Biometric System (UBS) to facilitate remote identification. This new innovation puts a whole new spin on “Big Brother” In the process, as well.

The AFD took the angle most important in these trying times in explaining this law. It highlighted how the securities space’s professionals, FX dealers included, could conclude the contracts with their respective clients, all the while not even needing to have their personal presence within the company’s offices.

The AFD itself was established as a self-regulatory body back in 2015, consisting of key players within the Russian FX space. The prime directive of this organization is to help develop the regulations and standards of FX dealers, as well as helping to resolve broker/client disputes.

The Bank of Russia gave the self-regulatory body some clarification back in June of 2020 regarding remote verifications for clients. Olga Skorobogatova, the Deputy Governor of the Bank of Russia, had confirmed at the time that there was already a draft in preparation to amend the existing laws.

Evgeny Masharov stands as the head of the AFD, and gave a public statement about the matter at large. He urged that attention should be focused on the traders of the FX industry, first and foremost. The AFD, he stated, was developed to focus on the interests of these consumers within the financial services space. According to Masharov, the AFD has managed to follow this goal, even with difficulties along the way.

Indeed, the Russian Central Bank had reported that complaints leveled against FX brokers saw a decrease. Even so, it was just a month after when a new problem started to arise: A rapid increase in unregulated brokers soliciting unsuspecting investors. As such, the Russian Central Bank went as far as to issue a warning about the matter.