An analysis of Russian equity capital markets

Abstract

This paper begins with the assumption that stock market development has a positive and causal relationship with long run economic growth. It thus takes the view that developing the equity market is an important policy objective for the Russian government. Through a series of interviews, data collection and a review of the literature, it is found that the Russian equity market is rather underdeveloped as measured by its liquidity, free float capitalization and industry concentration. In order to stimulate the development of the market, the paper focuses on the attraction of long term capital to sustainably increase the size and liquidity of the market and reduce volatility. A set of viable reforms are suggested to achieve this goal including: 1) the upgrade of market infrastructure primarily through the creation of a Central Settlement Depository and relaxation of prefunding requirements, 2) corporate governance improvements through a reduced government participation, increased board independence and the introduction of a minimum free float requirement and 3) Incentives for the pooling of long term domestic capital, in particular through the diversification of risk using cross-country swaps.