T | TRUSTED RELATIONS WITH LOCAL COMMUNITIES

Financial literacy improvement activities

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Improving the financial literacy of novice investors is a priority of Moscow Exchange Group’s ESG strategy. In pursuing this objective, Moscow Exchange can make a significant contribution to achieving its sustainability goals.

Investing is an activity that professional portfolio managers, traders, and the public engage in to develop the modern economy. This includes green financial instruments, which have not only environmental, but also social effects. The successful ESG transformation of financial markets largely hinges on the availability of training for market participants.

To make investment activities more attractive to individual investors and to raise their awareness of the ESG agenda, Moscow Exchange conducts specialised activities, training seminars, and competitions, as well as large-scale financial education projects. It also organises contests to demonstrate the benefits of an informed approach to trading.

• The Moscow Exchange School has been running since 2014. The materials, video courses, and webinars published on the project’s web page help novice and experienced investors understand the stock exchange and how to settle trades effectively and with confidence.
• The Investor’s Path training course: Moscow Exchange has developed a free training course for novice investors based on the methodology of the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO). The course is accredited by the Financial Literacy Association.
• The Best Individual Investor contest has been held since 2003 and is the world’s largest exchange competition for traders.
• Moscow Exchange is the general partner of Fincontest, or the All-Russian Financial Markets Knowledge Contest, which has been held annually by the Financial University under the Government of the Russian Federation since 2009.
• Moscow Exchange Group supports projects of the Bank of Russia and the Russian Ministry of Finance to develop financial skills and awareness and improve the financial literacy of the public.

The following activities to improve financial literacy were held in 2022:

• webinars for individual investors;
• contests and ‘marathons’ (Investmarathon, Invest Battle Championship);
• development and promotion of educational content via the MOEX – Moscow Exchange and Moscow Exchange School Telegram channels and the Money Makes Money podcast.

Key document:

• Strategy for the Improvement of Financial Literacy in the Russian Federation 2017-2023.

Promoting gender balance and equality in the professional community

Moscow Exchange Group is a party to the global Ring the Bell for Gender Equality initiative. Every year on 8 March, participating exchanges ring bells at the opening or closing of trading as a gesture to promote the principles of gender equality and the empowerment of women in business, politics, and the economy. The main goal of this initiative is to urge businesses to take measures to promote sustainability goals through the empowerment of women. In particular, the role of exchanges involves the promotion of gender equality at companies whose shares are listed on their floors and in calling for adherence to the Women’s Empowerment Principles (WEP).

Information about Moscow Exchange Group’s adherence to the principles of non-discrimination and gender equality among its employees is provided in the Respect for Human Rights, Equal Opportunities and Staff Engagement subsection of the 2022 Sustainability Performance Highlights section of the Report.

Key documents:

• Code of Professional Ethics of Moscow Exchange
• ILO Conventions No. 111 and No. 156
• UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights

Investments in communities and charity projects

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Moscow Exchange’s charity activities aim to address important social issues in areas where it has strong competencies or strategic interests. It also sponsors external projects to strengthen relationships with customer groups and professional and business communities and to develop the Russian financial market. The Group’s largest corporate donors are Moscow Exchange and the National Settlement Depository.

Moscow Exchange develops, selects, and implements charity programmes and projects in accordance with the following documents:

• Regulation on the implementation of charitable activities, which defines the principles, priority areas and procedures for interaction with partners;
• Regulation on the Charity Policy Committee;
• Regulation on the Charity Commission of the National Settlement Depository (updated in 2022);
• Corporate Social Responsibility Programme of the National Settlement Depository for 2021–2023 (updated in 2022).

Priority areas of the charity programme s in 2022 include:

• support for Russian medicine;
• support for education and financial literacy;
• helping children, people in need of in difficult circumstances;
• supporting veterans and elderly.

Moscow Exchange set new priorities for its charitable activities in the beginning of 2022:

• educational initiatives for people of all ages aimed at improving the financial, investment, and technological literacy of the public;
• support for educational institutions at all levels, educators and students (e.g., through grants and scholarships), research and popular science, and publications in the fields of finance, economics, and technology;
• assisting children, the economically disadvantaged, people who have found themselves in difficult situations (by helping them get back to an active life and find a decent job), and WWII veterans;
• programmes that promote environmental stewardship among companies and individuals. programmes that protect biodiversity and encourage the development of renewable energy sources;
• programmes that raise awareness among individuals and organisations of the importance of socially responsible behaviour and participation in charitable activities;
• corporate volunteering, i.e., the involvement of Group employees in charitable activities, which includes cash donations by employees.

A Charity Committee has been established. It is responsible for planning, analysing, and evaluating projects, as well as for issuing opinions and recommendations to the Executive Board and the Chairman of the Executive Board of Moscow Exchange when selecting applicants to participate in charity programmes.

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The effectiveness of charitable activities is evaluated using feedback from partners and beneficiaries. Feedback is obtained via email in the form of reports from the charities involved.

Moscow Exchange cooperates with a number of reputable charitable foundations, thereby ensuring the transparency and effectiveness of the allocated funds while also increasing the number of end beneficiaries.

New projects are considered by the Charity Policy Committee based on the following criteria:

• alignment with Moscow Exchange’s strategic priorities;
• significance in achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals, national priorities, and other initiatives and partnerships in which Moscow Exchange is a member;
• the positive impact of the charity programmes;
• the ability of the beneficiaries to continue to make qualitative changes after the programme’s completion;
• the absence of compliance risks and negative information about the beneficiaries.

Moscow Exchange seeks to ensure that all of the Group’s companies act in accordance with the Charity Policy and harmonise the principles and approaches used in their charitable activities with it.

Moscow Exchange does not support organisations that discriminate based on gender, sexual orientation, or nationality, nor does it participate, directly or indirectly, in financing organisations whose activities involve human rights violations, the creation or proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, or projects that pose a risk of environmental pollution.

Key documents:

• Regulation on Sponsorship and Financing of External Projects by Moscow Exchange
• Regulation on the Charity Policy Committee
• Regulation on Sponsorship by Moscow Exchange
• Regulation on the Moscow Exchange Sponsorship Committee
• Regulation on the Charity Commission of the National Settlement Depository

Corporate volunteering

Volunteering is an important aspect of the corporate culture of Moscow Exchange Group: it brings staff together by fostering common values. Moscow Exchange employees can participate in partner projects as volunteers or donors.

Employee participation in charitable projects is encouraged, including by the use of an internal ‘currency’ (the description of the MEMS project is provided in the Respect for Human Rights, Equal Opportunities, and Staff Engagement subsection on p. 115).

Employees receive information about charity events in the weekly Company News morning newsletter. They can also find out about charitable activities on the special Corporate Charity page on the intranet. There, staff can apply to participate in volunteer events, make donations, or post announcements about alternative charitable projects to find like-minded people.

Interaction with stakeholders, partnerships, and associations

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Moscow Exchange Group actively works to build constructive dialogue with Russian and foreign investors, market participants, current and potential issuers, regulators, and professional communities. It pursues this by engaging in direct communication through advisory bodies, working groups, investment conferences, forums, and specialised training events. These efforts help attract new investors to the Group’s markets, thereby expanding the client base, increasing the liquidity of financial markets, and bringing an inflow of investment to the Russian economy.

Many areas of Moscow Exchange’s activities involve interaction with government authorities. These relations are supervised by the Managing Director for Interaction with Issuers and Government Authorities.

Key documents:

• AA1000 AP AccountAbility Principles
• AA100 SES AccountAbility Principles
• Regulation on the Exchange Council

Moscow Exchange Council and user committees

The Moscow Exchange Council is the organisation’s main consultative and advisory body. Its objective is to elaborate strategic proposals for developing the Russian financial market and to represent trade participants and consumers of Moscow Exchange’s services so that their needs can be fully taken into account. The Moscow Exchange Council is made up of members of the management of leading market participants, the heads of self-regulating organisations, and representatives of management companies, investment banks, and the Bank of Russia.

The Moscow Exchange Council has the following competencies:

• elaborating proposals and providing recommendations to the Supervisory Board on how to improve Moscow Exchange Group’s development strategy;
• discussing priority projects and selecting at least one project to be used as a KPI for the management of Moscow Exchange, as well as providing relevant recommendations to the Supervisory Board or other competent management bodies;
• developing proposals to improve Moscow Exchange’s infrastructure and clearing technologies and to attract market participants from new client segments and other areas and providing recommendations to the Supervisory Board or other competent bodies.

Moscow Exchange Group interacts with market participants via user committees. Through these committees, Moscow Exchange Group receives feedback from clients on planned innovations to products and services, improves its exchange infrastructure, and prepares proposals for amending financial market regulations.

The user committees are advisory bodies made up of stakeholder representatives. Committee members give recommendations to the management bodies of Moscow Exchange on its strategic development and operations in certain markets. The user committees and the Moscow Exchange Council were created pursuant to Federal Law No. 325-FZ, dated 21 November 2021, ‘On Organised Trading’.

Most committees include members who are professional market participants: banks, brokers, investment companies, issuers, and non-finance companies. They are appointed for terms of one year.

Members prepare proposals for amending legislation and improving the regulatory framework, and they also review issues of the regulation of the public circulation and issuance of securities, information disclosure, and corporate governance. The committees also elaborate proposals for process solutions to improve the organisation of exchange trading, clearing and settlements, and the expansion of tools and services.

For the convenience of everyone involved, Moscow Exchange publishes a monthly user committee digest containing a list of the issues considered at meetings of the Exchange Council and the user committees, as well as the decisions taken. Information on the work of the committees is available to the public on the websites of Moscow Exchange and the National Settlement Depository.

Sustainability initiatives and partnerships

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In keeping with its mission and corporate values, Moscow Exchange actively participates in various Russian and international organisations, associations, and voluntary initiatives.

• Moscow Exchange is a regular participant in the Ring the Bell for Financial Literacy initiative of the World Federation of Exchanges. It also participates in the global SSE initiative, which was launched in 2009 on the initiative of former UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. It is a partner programme of the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), the UN Global Compact network, the UN Environment Programme Finance Initiative (UNEP FI), and the Principles of Responsible Investment (PRI).
• Moscow Exchange Group actively participates in numerous working groups on sustainable financing and responsible investing together with other market participants and regulators. One example is the initiative to encourage best practices in business ethics, compliance, and anti-corruption by the Russian Association of Business Ethics and CSR (Russian Business Ethics Network, RBEN).

Interaction with market participants and regulators

Moscow Exchange Group holds conferences, roundtable discussions, and seminars involving various partners from the corporate and public sectors. At these events, participants discuss legislative developments, IR trends, and topics pertinent to sustainability.

Key events in the field of corporate governance and investor relations include a yearly annual report competition, which is held by Moscow Exchange together with the RCB media group. The competition contributes to increasing the transparency of public companies and making disclosures more useful to investors and customers.

Support for political parties and organisations

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Moscow Exchange Group maintains a neutral position when it comes to political and religious activities, but it does not impinge upon its employees’ right to choose their own views, nor does it prevent them from pursuing such activities at their own cost and as private individuals. The Group made no donations to any political organisations in 2022.

Developing partnerships with institutions of higher education

Moscow Exchange works with leading universities to ensure the availability of highly skilled, well-trained personnel for the Group and the financial industry. It also works to promote research projects in the fields of economics and technology.

Moscow Exchange cooperates closely with the Higher School of Economics, the New Economic School, Lomonosov Moscow State University, the Financial University under the Government of the Russian Federation, Plekhanov Russian University of Economics, and the MEPhI National Research Nuclear University. Together with these institutions, Moscow Exchange conducts research on the securities market, IT, and risk management. It creates special software to train young specialists.

Through career guidance programmes, students are given the chance to apply for internships at Moscow Exchange Group in their fields of interest. Group employees help them implement their projects. Information on internships at Moscow Exchange Group is published on its careers page. The Group also actively develops special educational programmes in which senior managers and leading specialists of the Group’s companies offer master classes for students.

In 2018, with the support of Moscow Exchange, the Higher School of Economics created the Department of Financial Market Infrastructure in its Faculty of Economics, which brings together HSE professors and employees of Moscow Exchange. Moscow Exchange also helps the Financial University run its Securities and Financial Engineering master’s programme. Sponsor support is provided to the Cybernetics Department of the Institute of Intelligent Cybernetic Systems at MEPhI National Research Nuclear University, which, in turn, implements the department’s curricula and consults with students on their diploma projects and research in the interests of Moscow Exchange.

Together with the Financial University, Moscow Exchange organises Fincontest, a specialised knowledge contest about financial markets that was launched several years ago. Moscow Exchange helps assess participants’ knowledge in the areas of corporate finance, the securities markets, and financial analysis. It provides contestants with the chance to begin their professional careers.

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Stakeholder groups, areas, and forms of interaction

A stakeholder survey is conducted to rank material topics and prepare sustainability reports. The last stakeholder survey was conducted in 2020. Moscow Exchange conducted the following surveys in 2022, and their results provided feedback on the level and themes of Moscow Exchange’s impact on stakeholders:

• survey of issuers’ awareness of sustainability issues and perceptions of the products and services in Moscow Exchange’s Sustainability Sector;
• assessment of Moscow Exchange Group’s Customer Satisfaction Index (CSI);
• staff engagement assessment.

Participation in initiatives and associations in 2022

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Moscow Exchange Group Company	Name of Initiative/Association
Sustainability initiatives
	UN Global Compact (support of the principles) UN Sustainable Stock Exchanges (SSE) initiative Ring the Bell for Gender Equality Ring the Bell for Financial Literacy CPMI–IOSCO Principles for Financial Market Infrastructure (evaluation of conformity to the principles for Group companies) Association for Improvement of Financial Literacy
Other significant associations and initiatives
	International Association of Exchanges of the CIS Russian National SWIFT Association (ROSSWIFT) Financial Technology Development Association
	Association of Eurasian Central Securities Depositories (AECSD) Russian National SWIFT Association (ROSSWIFT) Self-Regulated Organization National Finance Association (SRO NFA)