Individuals will be allowed to trade foreign currency directly on stock exchange

The BCSE Chairman of the Board announced, that by late H1 2017, legal entities and private persons would have the opportunity to trade on the BCSE directly, without the mediation of the banks. Currently, only legal entities are allowed to buy currency at the stock exchange and are obliged to pay bank commission for placing orders and purchasing currency. Meanwhile, individuals are responsible for about 30% of daily turnover on the currency market. The new rule would allow legal persons and individuals to save costs when buying foreign currency, profitability of the banking system is likely to reduce due to the reduced currency turnover, the legal cash flow of foreign currency is likely to reduce, and exchange offices of banks in major cities are likely to reduce in number. Shadow currency market in Belarus is likely to continue its existence due to the reluctance of individuals to disclose the size of their savings to the authorities.