CBR

The Central Bank of Russia — Bank of Russia — is the country's financial regulator, supervising banks, insurers, securities firms and, since 2016, a dedicated category of licensed forex dealers.

The forex dealer licence

Russia created a specific licence for retail margin currency trading in 2015–2016, requiring firms to hold minimum capital, place a compensation deposit with a self-regulatory organisation, join that organisation, and operate under standard-form client agreements the regulator approves. Leverage for retail clients was capped at 50:1, and marketing was restricted.

The regime was demanding enough that very few firms obtained a licence, and several had theirs revoked in 2018. Most Russian-facing brokers continued to serve clients through offshore entities instead — which is the practical position for the majority of brands a Russian-speaking trader encounters.

Self-regulatory organisations

Licensed dealers must belong to an accredited self-regulatory organisation, which sets additional standards and administers a compensation fund. That structure is why the Association of Forex Dealers appears alongside the Bank of Russia on some broker pages — the two are complementary, not alternatives.

Sanctions and access

Since 2022 the practical question has not been what the licence permits but what is operationally possible. Major Russian banks are under blocking sanctions from the United States, European Union and United Kingdom and were removed from SWIFT; cross-border payments do not function normally; and residents of sanctioning jurisdictions are generally prohibited from dealing with sanctioned entities.

Anyone considering an account with a Russian-licensed or Russian-owned provider should verify current access, payment routes and legal exposure for their own residence directly, and should expect the position to change without notice.

What a CBR reference on a broker page means

Usually that the group has a Russian arm, not that your account sits under it. Read the client agreement: a Russian-facing brand serving an international client almost always contracts through an offshore company with no Russian licence and no compensation fund behind it.