Forex brokers are moving to Belarus. There are already 20 brokers there

There is no tax on Forex turnover in Belarus, so more companies register their activities there. Initially, only Russian brokers moved there - or opened branches - but now companies with capital from all over the world are applying for licenses in Belarus.

What connects Vanuatu, Marshall Islands, Belize and Belarus? Both geographically, climatically and politically, these are two completely different worlds, but that's where brokers come from around the world. Belarus has just joined tax havens for Forex investors. President Aleksandr Lukashenko decided to attract big money to his country, so he introduced a law that completely exempts from taxes on turnover on the financial market. The results did not have to wait long, more companies are applying for licenses in Belarus and they get them without any problems.

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There are already 20 brokers operating in Belarus

In February 2020, another license was granted to the brokerage house Visuno Capital Limited LLC (WisunoFX). In total, 20 brokers are already operating across our eastern border. Earlier, the license was granted to, among others Capital.com, B2Broker, operating license in Belarus from National Bank of the Republic of Belarus it also got the Cyprus-based brokerage firm RoboForex Group, managing RoboForex (operating under a Belize license) and RoboMarkets (until now under a Cyprus license), which has its headquarters in Cyprus. This is a company whose majority of customers are residents of the former Soviet Union. The Russian-speaking platform is therefore a natural choice for them.

The Belarusian authorities are doing everything possible to increase budget revenues. One of the ideas is to become a global, or at least European forex market leader. The method is very simple - financial incentive through tax exemption on the Forex market. The Belarusian market began to grow in 2018, when the Central Bank of Russia began receiving licenses from brokers in the foreign exchange market. Most of them immediately began to move to Belarus, and Minsk saw that it could make a lot of money and introduced financial incentives which, as you can see, are more important than the political and possible economic risks that the country undoubtedly presents.

Getting a license in Belarus is also very simple and cheap. A company that wants to deal with the Forex market must have a share capital of at least BYR 2 billion (on 14.02.2020/100/1 it is equivalent to approximately USD 50). For this you need to pay bank guarantees for BYR XNUMX billion, i.e. approx. XNUMX thousand USD. You also need to have a physical branch in Belarus and join the organization dealing with the development of the ARFIN financial market.

VISA and MasterCard make it difficult

However, not everyone likes the Belarusian expansion. The two largest players on the cashless market - VISA and MasterCard - have already introduced increased fees for transfers to brokers from Belarus, as well as withdrawals from accounts. Customers also have to wait longer than others for the execution of such payments, especially when it comes to topping up deposits. Over the last few months, brokers from Belarus waged a real war with operators and stopped the possibility of topping up payment card deposits from foreign clients. Then some customers offered financial compensation for higher transfer fees. So far, the problem has not been fully resolved, but the lack of taxes will mean that even increased costs in other areas will not affect the profitability of trading on the Forex market.