Russian central bank blocks effort by private investors to coordinate on stocks via Telegram
Alexander Marrow, 10 March 2021
MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russia’s central bank said on Wednesday it had ordered brokers to block the accounts of more than 60 private investors it suspected of coordinating in a Telegram channel to try to raise the share price of an electric utilities firm.
In a development reminiscent of lurches in U.S. video game retailer GameStop’s stock price in January, the regulator said it had detected non-market pricing on Friday in shares in MRSK Yuga, a Rosseti portfolio company.
The central bank said it had sent instructions to Sberbank, VTB, Tinkoff, Alfa Bank, Otkritie Broker, BCS and Aton to suspend deals and operations on organised trading for individual clients.
Tinkoff said it had received the instruction and would restrict access for 39 clients. Sberbank said it does not disclose information on client operations. BCS and Aton declined to comment. The other brokers did not immediately respond.
It was the first time the central bank had publicly announced it was taking preventative measures, such as blocking brokerage accounts, to stop violations to the law on market manipulation.
