MOEX to Remove Connectivity Charges for New Terminals

The (MOEX), the largest exchange group in Russia, announced this Tuesday that it will be changing its fee structure amid the , which is seeing staff from banks, brokers and other companies working from home.
In particular, the Russian exchange has said that it will not charge one-off and monthly fees for all new technical access IDs for MOEX Trade terminals. This is on the Equity and Bond, foreign exchange (forex), and Money Markets.
The fees will be removed from the 1st of April 2020 until the 1st of June this year. According to the statement released by MOEX, the change in pricing terms will help facilitate the migration of market participants’ infrastructure to remote sites. 
“A professional market participant typically has 4-5 remote terminals to access MOEX markets. In the current conditions, MOEX customers are instructing their employees to work remotely and duplicating existing connections to the markets,” the exchange said in its statement today.
According to MOEX, the exchange typically enrols up to 40 new users per month. However, because more staff are working from home due to the coronavirus pandemic, it is registering as many as ten access IDs daily.
MOEX benefits from COVID-19 volatility
Although COVID-19 is putting pressure on the financial markets, it has also provided a boost to trading volumes, as volatility returns back to the markets after a dormant 2019.
As , MOEX’s total FX market turnover in February edged higher to RUB 24.1 trillion ($366 billion) last month, up 18 per cent month-over-month from the RUB 20.4 trillion ($310 billion) exchanged hands in January 2020.
February was a particularly volatile period for global financial markets as investors ramped up bets on new stimulus measures from central banks to combat coronavirus risks. The MOEX numbers also followed stronger trading volumes from rival foreign exchange venues.