Forbes described the Central Bank’s scheme for exchanging blocked assets of Russians – Kommersant

At a meeting with financial market participants, the Central Bank presented a scheme for exchanging blocked assets of Russians for frozen money of foreigners in the Russian Federation, I learned Forbes. It is expected that the procedure will be launched no earlier than 2024 and will take place without the participation of exchange platforms.

The Central Bank scheme consists of four stages and nine steps:

1. The auction organizer and depositories will offer Russians with blocked assets to sell them at auction and issue an offer to buy a package of foreign securities with an initial value of up to 100 thousand rubles.
2. Russians will have to send an offer to the trading platform through a broker, the broker will conduct “price control”, the depositary (NSD) will separate foreign shares, that is, they will be accounted for separately in the depository. After this, the trading platform will form a pool of securities and divide them into lots.
3. The auction organizer will make an offer to non-residents who have type “C” accounts and on which rubles are blocked. If they agree, foreigners must submit an application to participate in the auction and instruct their bank to transfer money from the “C” account to the account of the trading platform.
4. If the trading takes place, the money for the purchased securities is transferred to the broker, who will credit it to the account of Russian investors. The depository of the trading organizer will have to open a transit account and credit the purchased foreign shares there, after which non-residents will be able to withdraw assets to foreign depositories. If the trades do not take place, then the foreigners’ money will be returned to type “C” accounts, and the segregation will be removed from Russian securities.

The organizer of the trades will definitely not be the stock exchange, says a Forbes source at the brokerage company. According to the publication, the procedure will take 45 days. One of Forbes’ interlocutors noted that the implementation of the scheme may encounter difficulties. Thus, it is unclear how the value of the package of securities will be determined. In addition, the securities will be sold in lots, which means that a non-resident will not be able to select only the assets he needs.

President Vladimir Putin signed Decree on additional temporary measures related to the circulation of foreign securities on November 8. It allows you to start the process of exchanging blocked assets worth up to 100 thousand rubles.

About how the scheme can work – in the material “Kommersant FM” “The exchange of assets is included in the scheme”.

Leonid Uvarchev