The Service Quality Assessment Committee

The Service Quality Assessment Committee (the SQAC) is a standing RAFMM body and is a part of the Association’s Executive Board, setting as its goal the objective and independent assessment of the brokers’ client services. The final SQAC goal is the high services quality of the Russian financial markets’ brokers and the objective clients’ informing about this. The SQAC activity is regulated by the appropriate Regulation.

In accordance with the RAFMM goals and objectives the SQAC priority activities are the assessment of the level and quality of the brokers’ trading conditions; the assessment of the brokers’ client services; analytical review of the company’s services, who are providing services in the financial sector; development and advancement of the quality standards of the provided services; the counteraction the inappropriate advertising methods.

According to the RAFMM the low qualification of the brokers’ staff and low transparency of this financial market’s segment are the key problems of the financial brokerage market in Russia for solving of which the Service Quality Assessment Committee is established. Today the situation dictates the necessity of introducing the specific criteria of quality assessment. The committee’s activity is called to increase the traders’ and credit companies’ confidence, and also to help financial brokers to free the market from shady components, which compromises the financial intermediary’s profession.

In the case of absence of the state licensing procedure or brokerage companies’ certification and as a consequence client services provided by them, the RAFMM with the help of the Service Quality Assessment Committee (the SQAC) undertakes the monitoring, research and quality control function of the provided services.

Thus, according to the RAFMM Service Quality Services Assessment Committee the most perspective client services are the possibility of brokerage company to use a single high-productive platform for the work on the securities market and the currency market, for the work with the basic and derived financial tools, and also assignment the new quality of information service to the end users of the system.

Content.

1. General provisions.

2. Goals and objectives of the SQAC activity

3. The SQAC competence.

4. Committee’s reorganization

5. Decisions making.

6. Final provisions.

1. General provisions.

1.1. The present document regulates the Service Quality Assessment Committee (hereinafter "the SQAC") and includes all key provisions according the committee’s activity.

1.2. Any provisions, described in the present document are mainland in the SQAC activity and additional concerning Basic Regulations. All contradictions to the Basic Regulations can be considered as the reason for reconsideration of the document’s items in order and on terms described below.

1.3. The present document contains the provisions concerning the SQAC work, decision tree, committee’s and also document’s reorganization.

1.4. The SQAC Regulation is an agreement about the Committee’s activity, which is admitted by every Association’s participant regardless of the participant’s status within Association.

1.5. The present document can be extended with any additional specialized annexes in the case of such decision in order described below. Any annex to this document is its integral part, should agree all requirements of the SQAC Regulations and also applicable to all directions of the SQAC competence if else is not spelled out.

2. Goals and objectives of the SQAC activity

2.1. The SQAC is a part of the Russian Association of Financial Market Members (the RAFMM), developed for work providing in the direction of services and working aspects’ assessment, connected with brokerage companies’ activity.

2.2. The principal working points of the SQAC are:

а)Assessment’s objectivity – qualitative many-sided analysis of the object, carried out by the selected group from the RAFMM participants;

b) Assessment’s relevancy – correspondence of the assessment to the current characteristics/features of the object and also the assessment’s results timely updating, in the case of the results’ changing;

c) Assessment’s relativity – every result of the object’s consideration is attended by instructions, determining the applicability level of the result taking into account the implicit errors.

2.3. The SQAC working priorities are:

а)assessment of the brokers’ trading conditions quality level;

b) assessment of the brokers’ client services quality level;

c) analytical review of the companies’ services, providing on-line resources in financial sector;

d) development and promotion of the provided services’ quality standards;

e)counteraction the inappropriate advertising methods.

2.4. The aggregate SQAC working result is declaring of the analytical work results as formed report for the Executive Board in a purpose of exerting influence on the passed decision in the direction of the most full and objective assessment regardless of the object’s structure and features, according to which the consideration is taking place.

3. The SQAC competence

3.1. The SQAC competence includes the activity concerning the object’s characteristic assessment, by this is meant:

а) brokers’ trading conditions;

b) client departments’ and brokers’ services work;

c)brokers’ advertising actions;
d) the cases of the brokers’ clients claims;

e) brokers’ client requests formed in order described in the present document.

3.2. The SQAC can make a decision and assess the objects on the basis of the Committee members’ analytical work with the following results’ declaring for the Executive Board consideration.

3.3 Assessment or another result of the SQAC consideration can be disputed by the Executive Board in the case if at the Executive Board voting according to the SQAC working result more than 75% votes were given in favor of this result cancellation.

3.4.The SQAC can influence any processes of the objects’ consideration by the Executive Board by directing results of the SQAC analytical work to the Executive Board.

3.5.The SQAC can be called for the process of the objects’ consideration by any other committees apart from the Executive Board in the case, if such necessity occur and is made by the SQAC participants’ notification by members of these committees.

4. Committee’s reorganization

4.1. The SQAC can reorganize its own structure by admission of a new member from the RAFMM participants or excluding members from the active members of the SQAC.

4.2. Two alternative variants of the SQAC formation procedure structure have the following order:

4.2.1. In the case of the admission/exclusion SQAC members at the initiative of one of the SQAC participants the vote is took inside of the committee on the principle of the votes’ majority.

4.2.2. In the case of the admission/exclusion SQAC members at the external initiative the vote is took by Executive Board on the principle of the votes’ majority.

5. Decision making.

5.1. The main results of the objects consideration by the SQAC members are following alternative decisions:

- Adoption or rejection of one or another object’s quality which is inappropriate to the declared characteristics;

- Comparison of two same objects with the comparison result’s declaring.

- The practicality’s assessment of the company’s service usage in terms of the broker’s client advantage;

- The assessment of the services and/or broker’s trading conditions’ quality level.

5.2. The additional result of the objects’ consideration by the SQAC members are recognized the accompanying instructions on the results’ usage of the SQAC analytical work, including the consideration of potential errors and the confirmation that there is no capability of the different objects’ characteristics objective comparison.

5.3. The consideration result is accepted by the RAFMM participants be putting to vote different assessment variants, which can be set out by any SQAC member.

5.4. The SQAC consideration result is a decision which gets the votes’ majority during the voting. In the case, if none of the voting variants did not get the votes’ majority; the SQARC members hold additional consultations and coordinations, according to the results of which the voting is appointed.

6. Final provisions.

6.1. The present document includes the description of all SQAC members’ activities in the frameworks of the Committee’s competence.

6.2. The document can be amended or revised by rectification after the SQAC voting in case if more than 75% votes were for the amendments acceptance.

6.3. The document can be amended or revised by rectification after Executive Board voting in case if more than 75% votes were for the amendments acceptance.

6.4. The document can be amended at the RAFMM President’s initiative.

6.5. The SQAC activity is realized by decisions making in the case of consultations and thorough analysis of the considering objects. The SQAC participants can express dissent with each other by voting and also by negotiations.

6.6. The SQAC competence, determined by the present document, is full in the degree as it does not contradict the Basic Regulations.