Problems of Strategic Development of Regional and Meso-Regional Securities Markets in Russia

Abstract

In the conditions of deepening inter-state contradictions and the decline in oil prices on world markets, there is a need for efficient redistribution of financial resources within the fragile national economy. In this regard, the significance of the securities market as a mechanism for such redistribution increases. Despite the integrity of the national securities market, in the Russian Federation there exist relatively isolated regional and mesoregional securities markets (those ones of the Russian Federation subjects and Federal Districts). The subjects of the Russian Federation (regions) and Federal Districts (meso-regions) differ in the degree of their investment development and attractiveness as well as maturity of infrastructure of regional securities markets. As a consequence, there is a considerable gap in the possibilities of ensuring regional issuers with attracted financial resources for the purpose of their innovative development. The development of regional and meso-regional securities markets occurs in tandem of two opposite trends: on the one hand, it is centralization of local markets, their integration into the national and global financial markets; on the other hand, it is decentralization and promotion of regional development. The development of regional and meso-regional markets should not violate the integrity of the national securities market and should take into account regional socio-economic characteristics. The analysis carried out has shown that the main problems of regional and meso-regional securities markets in Russia are caused by external and internal factors. Among the identified problems, the main ones are: the problem of combining national and regional interests under a single national legislation in the field of securities; the lack of adequate understanding of the role of the securities market in solving regional socio-economic challenges; reassessment of the speculative role of the securities market; and underestimation of the instruments of the securities market in the innovative objectives of the region. Since the main function of the securities market is the investment function, one should note that while elaborating the development strategy of regional and meso-regional securities market, emphasis must be placed on the development of the primary securities market mechanisms.