SPB Exchange has integrated into the sanctions chain – Kommersant FM
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Sanctions against the St. Petersburg Exchange prevented the unfreezing of assets of Russian citizens. And this applies to cases where the European authorities have given their approval. The site was included in the US sanctions list in early November. And now, as RBC writes, investors cannot achieve the unlocking of their securities if the exchange or its structures are involved in the chain of transactions. The publication’s sources say that in such cases, foreign companies simply refuse to comply with the licenses of European regulators.
Why is this happening? And is there a way out of the situation? This was explained by Kira Vinokurova, special adviser on sanctions issues to the Pen & Paper Bar Association:
“The market is structured in such a way that you still have to comply with US sanctions, even without being an American person. Especially if you operate on the international market. For the entire unlocking chain to go through, an operation must take place between one country and a second.
The European side is now wary of carrying out any operations because they either do not fully understand how the general license works, or operations under European permits are not covered by the American general license. And they found themselves in a deadlock situation, because it seems that the EU and Belgium have issued a license, but the United States can take certain measures if the European side acts without regard to their sanctions.
Washington provided clarifications at the time of imposing sanctions on the Exchange’s SBP. The American side issued a general license in order to complete the operations already begun. And if you need to carry out something new, even within the framework of a European license, you will have to obtain a separate permit from the US regulator, but this is not always possible.
A way out of the situation may be to request certain clarifications from the American regulator. There is a mechanism that allows you to receive confirmation from him upon request that the transaction does not violate sanctions. But again this will take time. And if there are many identical requests, they provide an answer to frequently asked questions. A mass appeal of the same type will help solve this problem.”
RBC’s interlocutors say that now difficulties with unfreezing assets due to sanctions against the St. Petersburg Exchange are isolated cases. But it is not ruled out that there may be more problems in the future. However, lawyer, partner of BGP Litigation Sergey Glandin is more optimistic:
“According to those stories where we helped our clients unblock funds, St. Petersburg Exchange is most likely not present. It appears in the chain as a depository, but this is not a universal phenomenon. The question is rather for the brokers, because in the unlocking chain they have either Rosselkhozbank, St. Petersburg Exchange or the conditional Alfa Bank, then everything goes to NSD, and from there on to European or American depositories.
After the St. Petersburg Exchange fell under American sanctions, we did not have a single performance license associated with it. I don’t think there will be any problems. There were cases when some sanctioned bank found itself in the chain, but after receiving a European license it was calmly executed. The new Euroclear broker did not object. I don’t think we should expect any tragedy.”
At the same time, the NSP law firm noted that out of thousands of applications for unblocking that were submitted by private investors, only dozens were approved. And the greatest chances are for people with passports or residence permits of the European Union.
Everything is clear with us – Telegram channel “Kommersant FM”.
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