Staff Shuffle at MICEX

The appointment of Korishchenko, who already serves as chairman of MICEX's board of directors, still has to be confirmed at an emergency shareholders meeting, a source close to the exchange said.

At the Central Bank, Korishchenko has overseen exchange rate policy, including the ruble rate against the dollar-euro basket, and the country's gold and foreign exchange reserves. On his watch, the Central Bank has diversified its reserve holdings away from the dollar and toward the euro.

The reshuffle comes in the wake of Russia's worst stock market losses in a decade and barely a week after both the country's main exchanges repeatedly suspended trading amid extremely volatile market conditions.

Putting Korishchenko in to run the exchange, which is 50 percent-owned by the Central Bank, shows that the government is eager to increase market regulation as it prepares to support key stocks with budget funds, analysts said.

Korishchenko has opposed suggestions by the government's markets regulator, the Federal Service for Financial Markets, to merge MICEX with the RTS, calling consolidation of the two stock exchanges "problematic."

The official announcement about the new MICEX head was made yesterday.

The MICEX Group comprises the Moscow Interbank Currency Exchange, the MICEX Stock Exchange, the National Mercantile Exchange, the MICEX Settlement House, the National Depositary Center and the National Clearing Center, plus some smaller regional exchanges.

Author: Ksenia Kochneva