A quarter of a century after the first Russian joint stock companies were set up, the Russian equity market has become the leading market in Eastern and Central Europe. Russia has a state of the art trading and settlement system, with the Moscow Exchange (MOEX) being its centerpiece. The Russian joint stock companies successfully introduce the best practices of corporate governance. The accounting system is becoming more and more adequate and transparent. However, in the last decade the Russian stock market has demonstrated one of the worst returns in the world among the 20 largest economies. Judged by the main indicators (P/E, P/B, Dividend Yield) the Russian market looks very much undervalued.The authors analyze the causes of this situation, define the factors which impact most the Russian stock market (the ownership structure, volatility, dividend policy, the role of foreign investors, correlation with oil prices) and make the conclusion that the most important factor has been the sanctions imposed upon the largest Russian companies after 2014.

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Green bonds have become the most notable innovations in the field of sustainable financing over the past 10 years. The article discusses the problems of issuing and circulation of such financial market instruments, examines the opportunities that modern financial technologies provide for the development of this market segment. Technologies for investing in green bonds and sustainable development bonds remain burdensome and technologically complex, as they involve going through many stages and attracting a significant number of participants. In addition, to date, there has not been a liquid and transparent market for retail investors, and economic sanctions against Russia cut off the country from the financial markets of other countries for an indefinite time. However, the tools of sustainable development can now be successfully applied if innovative technologies such as blockchain technologies, smart contracts, the Internet of things and digital assets are used. The purpose of the study is to formulate recommendations for the progress of the sustainable development system in Russia, as well as to propose a mechanism for the tokenization of sustainable development bonds to attract and place funds from small investors in order to solve social and environmental problems of the Russian economy.

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The relevance of the analysis of the draft guidelines for the development of the Russian financial market in 2019–2021 set forth in the draft program document issued by the Bank of Russia comes from the fact that in the current situation of the macroeconomic and financial instability Russia’s entry into the top five leading world economies is impossible unless business entities have access to internal sources of financing, primarily to debt and equity financing instruments, as well as to risk insurance tools.The subject of the research is the plans of the Bank of Russia for the development of the Russian financial market in 2019–2021 set out in the draft program document of the Bank of Russia to be approved in the summer of 2019. The purpose of the paper was to assess the above guidelines in terms of whether they can achieve the goal of boosting the growth and efficiency of the economy. Proposals are made to harmonize issues related to the development of the financial market with monetary and fiscal policy issues.The paper concludes that it is necessary to seek a balance between financial stability and stimulation of business activities of banks in the cooperation between the Bank of Russia and business corporations. It is noted that the program of the financial market development does not include issues related to the development of certain segments of the financial market (foreign exchange and precious metals markets).