The MICEX Board has decided to boost the capitalization of the National Clearing Centre (NCC) from 700 million rubles to 1.735 billion rubles (70.4 mln.US Dollars) through an additional issue of NCC shares to MICEX.

Alexander Potemkin, President of the MICEX and Chairman of the Supervisory Board of the NCC, said: “The increase in the capitalization of the NCC, which is one of the key factors in determining the reliability of the risk management system, will secure the coverage of exchange risks associated with clearing. It will also serve as an additional guarantee of the fulfillment of the NCC’s obligations to market participants.”

Raising the capitalization of the NCC is necessary to ensure that organization’s ongoing operations as a normal banking credit organization, as well as to provide for its further development, in view of the mandatory economic standards set by the Bank of Russia.

The National Clearing Centre was established in October 2005 as part of the program to centralize the clearing services provided for participants trading in the exchange-based markets of the MICEX Group. The NCC’s shareholders are MICEX (99.329% of the authorized capital) and a non-profit partnership, The National Depository Center (0.671%). The NCC holds a license from the Bank of Russia to carry out banking operations in Russian rubles and foreign currency.

The authorized capital of the NCC at the time of registration was 235 million rubles, and its stated capital was 1.5 billion rubles. In October 2006 an extraordinary general meeting of shareholders of the NCC decided to increase the authorized capital of the NCC to 700 million rubles. In January 2007 an extraordinary general meeting of shareholders of MICEX approved the purchase of additional shares in the NCC.

In December 10, 2007 the NCC began to carry out clearing activities in the exchange-based currency market of MICEX. All risks associated with clearing are centralized in the NCC as the central counterparty. After the decision to increase the authorized capital of the NCC, trade volumes in the exchange-based currency market increased 1.5 times. As a result, the issue of increasing the authorized capital of the NCC to cover risks associated with clearing became even more pressing, hence this latest decision.