2020-07-21 | 142/04The National Bank of Georgia issued Order No. 142/04 to approve the Rule on Activity of Foreign Exchange Market Participants, establishing mandatory standards for licensed commercial banks, brokerage companies, and registered microfinance organizations. The rule mandates strict transparency, fair pricing, and information disclosure while explicitly prohibiting front-running, market manipulation, and anti-competitive practices. It further requires robust risk management frameworks, internal controls, and record-keeping, with the National Bank authorized to issue warnings or suspend market access for non-compliance.
Unofficial Translation 1 The president of the National Bank of Georgia Order No. 142/04 July 21, 2020 On approval of the Rule on Activity of Foreign Exchange Market Participants’ Paragraphs 2 and 3 of article 3, and subparagraph “z” of paragraph 1 of Article 15, Article 47, paragraphs 1 and 3 of Article 48, subparagraph “a” of paragraph 1 of article 49 and subparagraph "a" of the paragraph 1 of article 50 of Organic Law on National Bank of Georgia I order: Article 1 To approve the rules of FX market participants’ activities with the attached edition. Article 2
President of the National Bank Koba Gvenetadze
Unofficial Translation 2 Rule on Activity of Foreign Exchange Market Participants Activity Article 1. General provisions
Unofficial Translation 3 f ) Pre-hedging – opening a FX position or any other such action or set of actions related to the client's expected order and which does not intend to worsen the situation for the client and does not lead to interference with the FX market’s normal functioning; g ) settlement instructions – a set of rules and conditions pre-agreed between the FX market participant and his client, which is used during settlement; h ) Principal trader –FX market participant, who enters into a FX transaction with the client on his own behalf and at his own risk; i ) Agent trader – participant of the FX market who, in order to fulfill the client's order, enters into a foreign exchange transaction with another participant without taking the FX risk; k ) Client 's order – an order received by a FX market participant from a client regarding foreign exchange transaction; l ) Counterparty – FX transaction’s other party concluded by the FX market participant. Article 3. Transparency and information disclosure
Unofficial Translation 4 done with the intention of not worsening the client's situation. Any material benefit, if any, received from the Pre-hedging must be fully disclosed to the client. Article 4. Rule of information sharing and communication by the market participant to the client Market participants are obliged to: a) Clearly and effectively identify the list of confidential information and protect such information from unauthorized access by third parties; b) Communicate with the client in a manner that is clear, accurate, professional and not misleading; c) In the case that the market participant communicates with the client about the current situation in the market, to properly inform the client about the current situation in the FX market (existing or expected market activity that may positively or negatively affect the execution of the client's order) so as not to disclose confidential information. The information provided by the market participant to the client about the current situation in the FX market may contain only general market trends, generalized information that does not allow identification of a specific entity or a specific transaction; d) Have appropriate information protection mechanisms/barriers that protect the client's confidential information from any unauthorized access by both third parties and unauthorized persons of the market participant; e) Ensure, among other things, front and back office functions segregation. Treasury Front office staff should not have access to back office information, including information on client account balances. Article 5. Execution of FX transaction
Unofficial Translation 5 2. Manipulation of the FX market is prohibited. Market participants are not allowed to enter into transaction or otherwise act with the purpose of artificially manipulating market prices, including official exchange rate manipulation. Such transactions would qualify as manipulation, if it intends: a) a deliberate attempt to interfere with free and fair operation of the market b) Artificially influencing the market price for economic benefit. 3. Market participants are not allowed to act with the purpose of limiting competition in the FX market. Market Participants should in no way, either directly or indirectly, restrict their clients dealing with or obtaining services from other Market Participants or entering into other legal relationship with them; 4. Products and Services should be priced based on their economic costs. To implement this principle in practice, market participants are obliged to: a) During offering several products in one package, provide client with the information about both the products total price and package’s each component’s individual price. b) disclose key information on the non-price features of the package and related risks, in case of existence; c) inform clients whether each component product/service can be purchased separately; d) Conduct proper trainings for sales staff and ensure that their remuneration scheme does not incentivize inappropriate selling of product or selling of product in way that violates this rule; e) Ensure that clients can cancel component service/product within the package, if possible. 5. Market participants must ensure that transactions are made through official electronic communication, which ensures that communication and information about the transaction is stored for the subsequent audit. If market participant’s internal policy allows the use of official mobile communication devices in the trading room, the market participant is obliged to ensure the recording and storage of any communication related to FX transactions on these devices. Transactions concluded by telephone (via electronic communication) must be recorded in the market participant’s relevant system. To achieve this objective, market participants should develop appropriate policies. 6. When providing information about the market situation, the market participant must not disclose other persons’ non-public, specific and expected transactions’ details, including: client names and exact amounts of the FX rate and the transaction amount. Article 7. Risk management
Unofficial Translation 6 2. In order to manage credit risks, the market participant should assess the counterparty's credit risk, determine trading limits and periodically update them. 3. To sign modal framework agreements (Master Agreements) For derivatives trading, which provide for the use of netting and financial collateral. 4. For market risk management, the market participant is obliged to have procedures and systems, using which the compliance of the trading positions with the current market situation, as well as the size of the expected profit or loss from the trading positions will be evaluated. 5. To manage operational risk, Market Participants should have business continuity plans (BCPs) in place that are appropriate to the nature, scale, and complexity of their FX business and that can be implemented quickly and effectively in the event of large-scale disasters, loss of access to significant trading platforms, settlement, or other critical services, or other market disruptions. 6. The market participant is obliged to ensure organizational division of front and back offices and staffing with appropriate employees. The number of employees should be adequate to the complexity and scale of the activities carried out by the market participant, so that, at least, any action in conducting the main activity is performed by no less than 2 people (the principle of four eyes). The qualification of the employees must be confirmed by professional certificates, which is determined by the relevant decision of the National Bank of Georgia. 7. A market participant must have appropriate technological systems to support spot FX, money market instruments, securities, derivatives trading, settlement, accounting, risk measurement and reporting. 8. In order to manage compliance risk, the foreign exchange market participants are obliged to: a) Market Participants should keep a timely, consistent, and accurate record of their market activity as well as communications with client relating to conclusion of transaction, which shall be subject to further audit. Records shall be kept at least for 6 years from the completion of the transaction. Market participant shall also ensure appropriate internal policies and procedures in place designed to prevent unauthorized transactions. b) Market Participants should set guidelines that specify personnel authorized to deal in after-hours or off-premise transactions and the limit and type of transactions permitted. A prompt written reporting process should be developed and appropriate records should be kept. 9. Regarding settlement process, the market participant is obliged to: a)Measure and monitor their Settlement Risk and seek to mitigate that risk when possible. b) Develop and Utilize standing settlement instructions (SSIs) in FX transactions . Article 8. Supervisory measures and/or sanctions
Unofficial Translation 7 consult with the professional association before the final resolution of the issue, while protecting the confidentiality of information. 2. Due to the violation of the requirements established by this rule, FX market participant will be given a written warning or, depending on the severity of the violation, its access to the organized market will be temporarily suspended.