St. Petersburg Exchange: when it was created and what it does

SPB Exchange specializes in organizing trading in foreign securities in Russia. Despite the name, the head office is located in Moscow. Exchange trading is conducted 18 hours a day with settlements in the currency of the original listing (American or Hong Kong dollars). Other details about the exchange are in the Kommersant certificate.

According to the St. Petersburg Exchange, until recently, approximately 2,000 of the most liquid shares and depositary receipts of international companies, including those from the S&P 500 stock index, were traded on the site. The minimum transaction volume was one share. As of October 2023, the number of accounts with securities positions was 2.2 million.

The functions of the settlement depository are performed by SPB Bank. According to information from SPARK-Interfax, as of December 31, 2021, SPB Exchange owned 73.73% of SPB Bank. Later data were not published.

History of the exchange

According to media reports, in January 1991 in St. Petersburg, the commercial company St. Petersburg Exchange began trading in confiscated goods, property and real estate of debtor companies. Since 1994, it has organized trading in futures and options contracts.

In March 1997, the company created a separate division specifically for working with securities – the non-profit partnership St. Petersburg Stock Exchange. In May 1998, it officially received a stock exchange license. According to media reports, since 1998, the St. Petersburg Stock Exchange has become the main trading platform for Gazprom shares and St. Petersburg city bonds. During the 1998 crisis, the site fulfilled all obligations under derivatives transactions. As a result, in September 2001, together with the RTS Stock Exchange, they organized the forward futures and options market FORTS. In January 2009, the non-profit partnership was reorganized into the joint-stock company St. Petersburg Exchange (now St. Petersburg Exchange).

In November 2014, trading in foreign securities was launched on the site for the first time. As a result, investors were able to conduct transactions with shares of foreign companies in Russian jurisdiction. In November 2021, the initial public offering of shares of the St. Petersburg Exchange took place, the valuation was $1.3 billion. According to media reports, demand among retail investors exceeded $500 million (originally expected to be $150 million).

Working under sanctions

In March 2022, after the assets of the National Settlement Depository were frozen in Euroclear and Clearstream, the St. Petersburg Exchange became almost the only way to access foreign securities in Russia. According to the company, net profit under IFRS for 2022 increased 10.3 times and amounted to 1.9 billion rubles.

In May 2022, sanctioned VTB withdrew from the capital of the St. Petersburg Exchange; previously it owned almost 10.8% of the shares (the current ownership structure is not disclosed).

On November 2, 2023, the US Treasury department for foreign assets control, OFAC, imposed sanctions against the St. Petersburg Exchange: American citizens and companies were prohibited from all financial transactions and transactions with it. Against the backdrop of the news, shares of the St. Petersburg Exchange collapsed by more than 20%. On the same day, the platform stopped trading in foreign and Russian shares, despite the fact that OFAC allowed exit from St. Petersburg Exchange securities until January 31, 2024.

On November 7, the St. Petersburg Exchange appointed a new general director; he became the former deputy head of the St. Petersburg Exchange, Evgeny Serdyukov. His predecessor Roman Goryunov not only left his post, but also resigned from the board of directors of the St. Petersburg Exchange.

Currently, transactions on the trading platform are possible only with certain Russian securities and shares of the exchange itself. According to statements from the St. Petersburg Exchange, settlement and depository operations in rubles for Russian securities and funds have been resumed since November 21. They take place as usual without restrictions.

On November 9, the first deputy chairman of the Central Bank of Russia, Vladimir Chistyukhin, called the viability of the St. Petersburg Exchange a challenge for its shareholders and management. The complete concentration of work on securities of friendly countries, according to him, “does not fully help in this situation,” since the partners of the trading platform “very carefully” interact with sanctioned companies.