Moscow Exchange (MOEX), the largest exchange group in Russia, released its financial results for 2020 today. The exchange reported the Fee and Commission income (F&C) of RUB 34.3 billion, which is up 30.9% compared to 2019.
According to the official announcement, all business lines of F&C posted strong growth in the last year. MOEX added that the share of F&C in overall operating income reached an all-time high of 71% in FY20.
MOEX reported a dip in Net Interest Income (NII) as it dropped 15.3% to RUB 14.2 billion, due to the lower interest rate environment. Operating expenses jumped 8.5% in 2020, in line with the guidance.
Adjusted net profit reached RUB 25.2 billion, a 13.8% surge compared to 2019.
Commenting on the recent financial results, Yury Denisov, Chief Executive Officer of Moscow Exchange, said: “Despite the pandemic, the last year was a very successful one for Moscow Exchange and the Russian financial market as a whole. Russian businesses raised in excess of RUB 4 trillion from institutional and private investors via the issuance of equities and bonds on MOEX. By expanding trading hours and rolling out new instruments, such as international equities, Eurobonds, and derivatives, we have significantly broadened opportunities for investors to trade on the exchange. Major investments in IT, cybersecurity, Risk Management systems and compliance have resulted in the extremely high reliability of our systems."
Growth
Apart from strong financial numbers, MOEX reported a significant jump in new retail investors last year. The exchange added nearly 5 million new retail investors in 2020 as the total number of retail clients jumped above 10 million at the end of February 2021. Additionally, MOEX hosted 3 IPOs and 4 SPOs in 2020.
“The arrival of new investors means we need to grow and develop educational programs. It's of critical importance that retail investors trade responsibly and invest to grow their capital for the long term. More and more retail investors are not only trading on our platform, but also becoming our shareholders,” Denisov added.
