OREANDA-NEWS  On 08 December was announced, that beginning from December 3, in the MICEX currency market, the maximum daily exchange rate fluctuations was increased from ± 1.65% to ± 1.75%. The MICEX Group is also increasing the deposition standard for instruments with “today” settlements to 3.5% and instruments with “tomorrow” settlements — to 5.25%.

In the face of the ongoing crises in the world financial market and increasing risks in all spheres of the Russian financial sector, the MICEX Group pays special attention to ensuring the reliability of the exchange segment of the currency market. To achieve this, the MICEX Group is constantly revising the parameters of the risk management system (RMS parameters) to make sure they are consistent with the current situation in the currency market.

Due to the recent rise in volatility in the world currency market and in all segments of the domestic currency market, beginning from December 3, 2008, the MICEX Group establishes the following RMS parameters in USD/RUR and EUR/RUR segments of the on-exchange currency market:

These RMS parameters have been approved by the Bank of Russia and are set by the Board of the National Clearing Center under Section 4 of the Rules of clearing effected by Joint-Stock Commercial Bank The National Clearing Center (close corporation) in the Unified Trading Session of Interbank Currency Exchanges (approved by the Supervisory Board of The National Clearing Center on April 5, 2007 (Minutes of the Meeting #12), as revised by the Supervisory Board of The National Clearing Center on June 13, 2007 (Minutes of the Meeting #3), October 31, 2007 (Minutes of the Meeting #6) and April 14, 2008 (Minutes of the Meeting #13).

Given the implementation of the new RMS parameters, beginning from December 3, 2008, in order to make trades in foreign currency (including USD/RUR and EUR/RUR currency pairs) in the Unified Trading Session of Interbank Currency Exchanges (UTS), participants in trading will have to pre-deposit funds in the amount of:

For transactions with “today” settlements-3.5%

For transactions with “tomorrow” settlements-5.25%

Taking into account the growing volatility in financial markets, the MICEX Group will continue to monitor the adequacy of RMS parameters and, if necessary, initiate their changes.