The MICEX government securities market (the market of GKO/OFZ) was organized by the RF Finance Ministry and the Bank of Russia in 1993 to carry out the state's budget and money-and-credit policy.

At present, the government securities market is one of the most important segments of the Russian financial market. Its functions include:

• enabling the Government to effectively manage government finances;
• providing the Bank of Russia a range of instruments, necessary to carry out an effective money-and-credit policy, regulate the level of liquidity and maintain the stability of interest rates;
• providing the reference level of risk-free interest rates; and
• providing highly reliable financial instruments to all interested market participants.

The government securities market is one of the most advanced segments of the Russian financial market, based on the all-Russia inter-regional infrastructure. Its main features are:

• high reliability;
• the national scale;
• the full range of services, based on advanced information technologies; and
• the top world level of technologies.

The MICEX money market, organized in 2002, includes transactions of direct REPO, reverse REPO (reverse REPO vs Bank of Russia) and inter-dealer REPO. Besides, in March 2004, the Bank of Russia started deposit transactions with credit organizations with the use of the MICEX electronic trading system, which have become an integral part of the MICEX money market.

The use of the MICEX trading and settlement infrastructure for the Bank of Russia's deposit transactions enabled to attract regional banks and widen the circle of potential participants in these transactions.

Participation in the Bank of Russia's deposit transactions on the MICEX offers a number of advantages:

• high technology access to the Bank of Russia's deposit transactions;
• no commission charged by the MICEX;
• the widest possible circle of participants, including regional banks;
• the high efficiency of the use of funds on the MICEX markets; and
• transparency of transactions.

• General information
• Financial instruments
• Market participants