Qualified investor

Qualified investor is a private or legal person who trades in the securities market in relation to financial instruments and services that are intended only for this type of investor.

The list of securities intended for qualified investors includes investment units of closed-end mutual investment funds of the following categories: hedge funds, especially risky (venture) investments, credit, direct investments and long-term direct investments, as well as other financial instruments intended in accordance with legislation or issue documents for qualified investors.

By virtue of the Federal Law “On the Securities Market” dated April 22, 1996 N 39-FZ, qualified investors include:
• Professional participants of the securities market;
• Credit organizations;
• Joint stock investment funds;
• Managing companies of investment funds, mutual investment funds and non-state pension funds;
• Deposit Insurance Agency;
• International financial organizations;
• Insurance organizations (including foreign ones);
• Bank of Russia, VEB;
• Specialized financial companies issuing structured bonds;
• Non-commercial organizations in the form of funds, which relate to the infrastructure for supporting SMEs;
• Commercial organizations that meet the requirements of the law in terms of revenue or net assets;
• Other persons classified as qualified investors by federal laws.

In the Russian Federation, the status of a qualified investor can be assigned to legal entities and individuals that meet certain conditions.

An individual may be considered a qualified investor if he meets any of the following requirements:
• The total value of securities, derivatives, funds on accounts or deposits is at least 6 million in RUB.
• Experience of working in an organization that carried out transactions with securities and (or) entered into contracts that are derivative financial instruments:
o at least 2 years if such an organization is a qualified investor;
o at least 3 years in other cases.
• Higher economic education or a qualification in the field of financial markets, confirmed by a certificate of qualification issued in accordance with Part 4 of Article 4 of the Federal Law of July 3, 2016 No. 238-FZ "On Independent Assessment of Qualifications", or at least one of the following international certificates:
o Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) certificate;
o "Certified International Investment Analyst (CIIA)" certificate;
o Financial Risk Manager (FRM) certificate.
• Made at least 10 transactions on a quarterly basis, but at least once a month, with securities and (or) derivative financial instruments during the last 4 quarters, the total price of which for the indicated 4 quarters amounted to at least 6 million rubles.

A legal entity may be recognized as a qualified investor if it is a commercial organization and meets any of the following requirements:
• Has a net worth of at least 200 million rubles
• Has a revenue determined according to the financial statements for the last completed reporting year of at least 2 billion rubles;
• Has an amount of assets according to accounting data for the last completed reporting year of at least 2 billion rubles;
• Made transactions with securities and (or) derivative financial instruments, for the last 4 quarters, on average, at least 5 times a quarter, but at least 1 time per month. At the same time, the total price of such transactions (contracts) must be at least 50 million rubles.