The Russian government has decided to integrate the Federal Service for Financial Markets into the structure of the Central Bank within one and a half to two years.

This was announced on Friday, December 14, by Finance Minister Anton Siluanov, RIA Novosti reports.

“There was a discussion in the government about a single mega-regulator. We agreed on a plan of action. In the first half of next year, legislative acts will be prepared and adopted to clarify the functions of the Central Bank regarding financial regulation. And then gradually, over the course of one and a half to two years, the integration of the Federal Financial Markets Service into the structure and system of the Bank of Russia will take place,” Siluanov said.

“This will happen gradually so as not to radically change the work of the Central Bank,” he explained.

Ultimately, a special committee will be created in the Central Bank, but first, in the second half of 2013, a separate division of the FFMS will appear. The work of the division will be supervised by the Deputy Chairman of the Bank of Russia.

Let us recall that the issue of creating a single mega-regulator in the financial market was raised in August by First Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov at a meeting with representatives of financial departments. Interfax sources said that Shuvalov responded to the request of the head of the Federal Financial Markets Service, Dmitry Pankin, to increase funding and staff for the service, which received additional functions for regulating credit cooperatives and microfinance organizations. In early October, President Vladimir Putin called for discussing the controversial idea in the expert community and not delaying the decision. At the end of the month, Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev instructed the government to analyze various options for creating a mega-regulator.

The FFMS will become part of the Central Bank in two years