Clientele for Belarusian forex brokers climbs 30% in the first nine months of 2022
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The clientele base for forex brokers in Belarus increased by 30% during the first nine months of 2022. This comes amid a 93.9% rise in the share of non-resident clients. The total number of clients hit 239,400 as of October 1, 2022.
Belarusian forex brokers increase
The increase in the number of clients for Belarusian forex brokers was highlighted in a report published by the Financial Market Development Association of Belarus (ARFIN), which operates over-the-counter OTC forex markets in Belarus.
The rise in the number of clients for Belarus forex brokers comes amid heavy sanctions imposed against the country by the West following the role that Belarus has played in the invasion of Ukraine by Russia.
The chair of ARFIN, Alexei Sidorov, said that while sanctions initially caused investor shock resulting in retail clients withdrawing their funds, the situation had already stabilized by May. The market had since returned to the levels it was trading at before the Russia-Ukraine war.
Sidorov further explained that the National Bank of the Republic of Belarus had not imposed any currency restrictions, which allowed traders to have total control over their funds. This led to retail traders seeing the ability of Belarusian forex brokerage companies to fulfill their needs.
Non-resident clients dominate the market
The increase in the clientele base for Belarusian forex brokers can also be seen in the funds that the companies have attracted during the first nine months of 2022. ARFIN notes that during this time, client deposits reached $293.6 million. However, most of these funds, equivalent to 91.1%, belonged to non-resident clients.
Client funds accumulated in 2021 totaled $367.6 million. Therefore, during the first nine months of 2022, brokerage firms in Belarus had already generated 80% of the total client funds reported in 2021.
On the other hand, the local Belarusian population is not actively participating in the financial markets. According to a study by the National Bank of the Republic of Belarus, less than 2% of the Belarus population participates in the financial markets, including forex.
Moreover, the research found that 40% of the Belarusian population had not invested in any financial instrument or had a savings plan. This could explain why non-resident clients make up the country’s largest number of depositors in forex brokerage accounts.
Sidorov added that the high number of non-resident clients investing in Belarus is because of how clients can successfully sell in the Belarusian jurisdictions. He also opines that Belarus offers an advantage to both regulated and unregulated financial jurisdictions. One of these advantages is the ability to leverage up to 200, leading to foreigners outnumbering the number of local investors.
