A Russian regulator said on Thursday that foreign Exchange brokers need to do more to demonstrate acceptable advertising practices.
Speaking at an event in Moscow, antitrust regulator Tatyana Nikitina said that there are occasional violations of the law when it comes to FX brokers advertising their services.
But Nikitina, who heads the Federal Anti-Monopoly Service's (FAS) advertising division, added that not all foreign exchange trading advertisements are illegal. She pointed to educational services and books that provide information on currency markets trading as examples of this.
Forex Dealers Association to set the standards
Arguing that brokers can work with advertisers to establish a set of best practices in the industry, Nikitina said that the Forex Dealers Association, a self-regulating body for Russian brokers, should provide a set of example adverts to advertisers so that they know what is acceptable and what is not.
"It seems more effective to say that the self-regulating organization, the Forex Dealers Association, should develop positive examples of what [legal] forex dealer advertising should look like," she said.
"This is necessary, first of all, for the [legitimate] players in the advertising industry, so that they can see what this kind of advertising should look like. And they can then understand that in the opposite case they may have problems, including with antitrust authorities. This sort of positive approach will bring more results than an increase in the size of fine.”
Whether there is actually any point at all to Nikitina's points is up for debate.
Russian authorities effectively killed the retail industry in the country at the end of last year when they revoked the licenses of most firms providing currency trading services to clients. The only companies left behind are licensed as banks and have some connection to local authorities.
