Russia’s Central Bank will become the Big Brother agency overseeing the operations of the financial markets, says the Vedomosti newspaper. As Russia-IC reported earlier, the government is launching an overhaul of its regulatory functions, aiming to make market players more disciplined.HAWNNU4NYRJT

The idea has been on the cabinet’s agenda for some ten years, but was only given priority by the then president Dmitry Medvedev in 2010. According to the Vedomosti, it’s the first vice-premier Igor Shuvalov who’s been put in charge of the project.

Out of all options, the government now appears to be considering handing over regulation to the Central Bank. Sources within the government cited by the daily say it will be the easiest and the cheapest way. If the responsibility was placed on the shoulders of the Federal Agency for Financial Markets, as an alternative option had it, it would have to hire thousands of new employees and look for money for their pay and new premises. In contrast, the Central Bank has relied on its own revenues to pay salaries.

The Finance Ministry is expected to work out amendments to the current legislation by the year’s end and submit them to the State Duma in the spring. In this case, the mega-regulator could start cleaning up the sector around 2013 or 2014.

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