April 15, 2005

Taking into account the growing volume of currency swap operations, the MICEX Exchange Council decided at its 14 April 2005 meeting to change the order of charging commission for swap transactions concluded in the exchange currency market.

The new order, which comes into force in May this year, implies the two-fold cut of the commission for swap operations, charged from participants in the Unified Trading Session of inter-bank currency exchanges (UTS), when trades surpass the threshold value of the daily volume of swap transactions (100 million US dollars).

According to the MICEX CEO Alexander Potemkin, this measure will inspire participants▓ interest in concluding swap transactions in the exchange currency market. It is intended that the new order of charging commission for swap transactions will be introduced for 3 months, after which the MICEX will analyze the effectiveness of the new measure and decide about keeping it.