On 31 May and 1 June, the 9th CIS and Baltic Region Bond Congress was held in Yalta (Ukraine). This regular event, held by Cbonds Information Agency, is one of the largest events in the CIS debt securities market. IFC METROPOL acted as an official partner of the Congress. 
Despite the difficult market conditions at the time of the Congress, over 280 experts of the debt market of Russia and the CIS registered to attend the event. 

At the official opening of the Congress, Sergey Lyalin, General Director, Cbonds, noted that negative trends in the world economy and financial system strongly affect the domestic bond markets in Russia and the CIS. The current situation presents challenges both for issuers and investors. Nonetheless, the Russian market has been sufficiently stable in recent years and has not lost its appeal even in the conditions of high market volatility.

On the first day of the Congress, participants discussed general matters related to the economy and finances of the CIS countries, the current condition and prospects of the CIS government bond market. The second day of the conference was dedicated to the impact of the European debt crisis on the CIS and the key trends of the Russian bond market development. 

Petr Kadysh, Head of Fixed Income Research, Fixed Income and Derivatives Department, IFC METROPOL, moderated the first part of the program. He made a presentation, Influence of the European Crisis on Russia’s Debt Market.
He spoke about the two main factors affecting the Russian debt market – the situation in Europe and the policy of the Central Bank of Russia. The economic dependence of Russia on the European Union (as compared to other developing countries) is extremely high in terms of all basic macroeconomic indicators. 

Developments in Europe significantly affect our country – the economy in general and the debt market in particular. When structural risks increase in Europe, it has an immediate effect on Russia. Meanwhile, all other internal positive factors are simply ignored by the market. As a result, interest rates in Russia have exceeded actual rates in Brazil, which historically has had the highest rates.

Natalya Yalovskaya from Standard & Poor's and Michael Ganske from Commerzbank also spoke at the conference. Their presentations were followed by a discussion.

Overall, the participants noticed that over the past two years the Congress has become the main forum for the CIS debt market experts. Cbonds events traditionally offer a strong business program to market participants, as well as opportunities for informal communication.
The next Cbonds conference that IFC METROPOL is going to attend will be the Cbonds Fixed Income Conference: Russia, CIS & CEE in London in September 2012.

Petr Kadysh moderated the session on the Influence of the European Debt Crisis on the CIS

Speakers at the session on the Influence of the European Debt Crisis on the CIS

IFC METROPOL Booth