Russian Central Bank Grants Forex License to VTB 24, Denies 24option Parent

The Bank of Russia has published an update on the status of the Forex market participants in the country. The Russian mega-regulator has issued a license to the retail forex oriented subsidiary of major Russian financial conglomerate VTB Group named VTB 24. At the same time, the Russian subsidiary of the parent company of 24option, Rodeler Russia, has been denied a license after 9 months.

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The Russian central bank has been very selective in the issuance of retail forex licenses so far with the regulatory license becoming difficult to obtain even by some established players on the market like Alpari and Forex Club.

VTB 24, which is a subsidiary of VTB Group, has become the fourth company to receive a license by the Russian mega-regulator. Both firms have been members of the self-regulatory organization in Russia which was recently renamed to National Association of Forex Dealers (NAFD) from CRFIN with the newest licensed forex dealer in Russia applying in July, while Rodeler Russia was member since October 2014.

VTB 24 Forex has applied for a license with the central bank in April 2016, while the Russian subsidiary of Rodeler has filed the papers in December 2015. The Cypriot company is behind a number of powerful brands in the binary options space with 24option, QuickOption and Grandoption in its portfolio.

For the time being, the Russian central bank is not publicizing the reasons for turning down applications for forex dealer licenses.