Our Services
Fixed Income & Derivatives Trading
The total volume of the treasury market in Russia today approximates 40 billion US dollars with GKO issue to maturity periods upto 1 year, OFZs from 1 to 3 years and all OGCZs for 1 year. Auctions of new issues and new tranches of old issues, occur weekly. The issuing body is the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation (MinFin). The MinFin has fulfilled all its obligations on time and in full since the inception of this market 3 years ago.
Only official dealers appointed by the Russian government have the right to trade fixed income instruments - OPM-Bank is one of those dealers and trades extensively in both of the two main types (GKO's and OFZ's). Real time trading is carried out through terminals located on our premises and linked via fiber optic cables to MICEX (which is the only exchange where these fixed income instruments are traded). We have a strong, professional team of dealers and are widely recognized as a reputable player in the market.
After the introduction of the ruble corridor in late 1995 for a few months dollar yields on treasuries exceeded 100%. The market and the economy have since evolved and as a result yields have come down; nonetheless investors can still enjoy ruble returns of up to 60 % (the exact yield will depend on the period for which the treasuries are held). Greater returns are available to those investors who would like to open a managed account with active secondary market trading.
We envisage that treasury yields will continue to decline as the government relaxes restrictions on the access of foreigners to the market and as investor confidence improves; however the process will most probably be gradual and in the meantime Russian treasuries remain a lucrative investment vehicle. In a similar fashion to our equities department our fixed income team is also able to offer clients a Portfolio Managment or Investment Advice Option.
The Russian derivatives market has been extremely low volume to date. OPM-Bank has offered clients USD and DM futures contracts since 1994 via the Moscow Central Stock Exchange. In addition, currency and government bond futures will soon become available over the MICEX exchange; OPM-Bank expects to gain dealer status for derivatives on the MICEX exchange in the near future.
OPM-Bank offers:
- low-commission access to Russian government bonds
- participation in weekly bond auctions
- trading in the secondary market - clients may place orders via fax, telephone or in person
- personal trader and direct on-line access to MICEX
- portfolio creation, management and diversification
- nominee services for non-Russian firms and individuals
- access to short-term lending facilities based on market value of bond portfolio
- hedging against ruble - hard currency exchange rate fluctuations.
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