Exchange parameters are being recalculated – Kommersant FM
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The mechanism for exchanging frozen assets may reach a new level. The government allows an increase in the maximum application amount. Now you can count on exchange only within 100 thousand rubles. However, as Deputy Minister of Finance Ivan Chebeskov told RBC, this will be only the first stage of the mechanism. Transactions with individuals should begin in the first half of January 2024, when the government adopts the necessary resolution. And then, as the official said, the parameters may change: the authorities expect to either increase the amount of the transaction, or even expand the list of participants, allowing institutional investors to participate in the auction. Chebeskov did not voice any other details.
Is there any basis for such predictions? Chairman of the Board of Directors of Alfa Bank Oleg Sysuev believes that if institutional players are able to participate in the exchange, it will be with great restrictions: “I do not have such optimism. The financial authorities are going to live a long time and are unlikely to want to offend anyone, realizing that they will have to talk to them later. Some measures will be taken. At the same time, the regulator on the other hand is not inclined to behave kindly and respond to requests from Russia. We have already experienced this; at best, he simply ignores requests.”
The Ministry of Finance expects that only at the first stage the mechanism will help return investments to 2.5 million investors. The total number of people affected by the blockages is 3.5 million. But whether there will be a demand for such transactions from foreigners is unknown. If they agree to an agreement, in exchange for money they will receive assets frozen by the European regulator. He has not publicly promised that he will open access to his residents.
According to Chebeskov, EU citizens will be interested in participating in the exchange, although the government has not held negotiations on this topic with any of the major players. There are still doubts about the motivation of foreign investors, argues Delcredere Bar Association lawyer Artem Kasumyan: “Let’s assume that such a non-resident is buying up a certain pool of assets. Obviously, there will be temporary additional costs – for transactions, attracting lawyers, and communicating with your regulator.
Yes, on the one hand, he gets rid of the already immobilized Russian money, but in return he receives securities, the prospect of unblocking which is unclear.
The Belgian Treasury has a number of reasons why it might refuse. In relation to NSD, the deadline for submitting an application for unblocking was January 7, 2023. That is, you can simply use this formal basis to have a pre-trial period.
It cannot be ruled out that if there are many such European residents, they will begin to defend themselves. Why should their property rights as residents be limited due to the fact that they made some kind of transaction in the Russian Federation with an asset that is already illiquid?
However, there may be other considerations here, for example, maintaining the reputation of the sanctions policy, when in principle there are no bilateral agreements, but only new sanctions are introduced and introduced.
There are also Belgian interests. The assets continue to be accounted for in Euroclear, corporate actions are carried out on them, the depositary receives income, taxes are collected from this, which go to the budget.
If desired, you can find legal grounds to unblock or vice versa. Rather, the decision here is political, then it will be formalized by some rules of law.”
As reported by the Russian Ministry of Finance, all transactions should be completed by the end of 2024. Assets will be valued “at no worse than their market value on the date of exchange.” The Central Bank promised that no commissions would be charged to clients for participating in trading. The organizer of the transactions has not yet been named.
Everything is clear with us – Telegram channel “Kommersant FM”.
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