The path is being paved for frozen assets – Kommersant FM
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Moscow Exchange reported only two successful cases of unlocking investor assets in almost two years. During this time, a total of 27 applications were submitted from professional market participants for the return of client funds. And in the case of unlocking one’s own assets, out of 24 requests, not a single one was satisfied, said Chairman of the Board of the National Settlement Depository Viktor Zhidkov. But, according to him, even with the pair of licenses received, a lot of work remains: now we need to decide how to process the return of these funds. In addition, some applications may still be considered by foreign regulators.
NSD fell under Western sanctions in June 2022. According to the latest estimates from the Ministry of Finance, because of this, Russians abroad have frozen assets worth approximately 1.5 trillion rubles. Why haven’t they been returned yet? And do investors still have a chance? Andrey Timchuk, co-head of the sanctions practice of the Delcredere Bar Association, answered these questions for Kommersant FM:
“Still, the criteria are already clear. Another thing is that they are not easy to implement, because one of the points is that the assets as a result of unlocking must remain in the EU. In fact, citizens of the Russian Federation can now open an account in a financial institution of the European Union only if they have a residence permit or a second EU passport. And for legal entities it is almost impossible.
This is precisely what explains such a small number of positive decisions on collective applications. But I would doubt this statistic because we have at least one client who has received a license to unlock their assets – a bank.
In total, the process can take up to a year. But the most important thing is that there is still no other alternative. Therefore, those who have significant amounts stuck have to think about obtaining a residence permit, a second passport and applying to the Belgian Treasury to unfreeze assets.”
At the same time, NSD noted that some of the investors received the necessary licenses on their own. However, the Moscow Exchange structure cannot estimate their number, because such calculations are not carried out.
Kommersant FM’s interlocutors confirm that there are many more cases where private investors seek to unlock their assets. According to them, we can talk about hundreds of issued permits. Therefore, investment lawyer Elena Ryazanova believes that it is more effective to try to get your funds back on your own:
“Priority is given to applications from private individuals; a large number of them were considered. There were initially fewer of them submitted for legal entities. And they obviously postponed collective applications for later. Those two cases are rather an exception to the rule. According to my estimates, most collective applications, especially large ones, will be rejected.
Therefore, I believe that the path through an individual license is faster, but this method will also take a lot of time. Many applicants at the end of 2022 still have not even received a response to their application. However, this is clearly faster than waiting for a collective appeal to be considered.
The broker’s client can at this stage try to independently return his assets. There is absolutely nothing stopping him from submitting an individual application. Moreover, I would say that it makes sense to apply now, before your broker, who is included in the collective application, is rejected.
If you receive a refusal, it will be more difficult for you to justify the deadline of January 7, which means that your chances of unblocking the securities become somewhat less. There is even an alternative – to appeal to the Arbitration Court. Practice there is also going well. Therefore, here you can choose which path is closer.”
In early November, Vladimir Putin signed a decree introducing a mechanism for the exchange of blocked assets. It is assumed that investors will be able to sell frozen securities to foreigners in an amount of no more than 100 thousand rubles. At the same time, they will receive money from type “C” accounts, where funds of foreign market participants are stored. But the exact mechanism of power exchange has not yet been agreed upon.
Everything is clear with us – Telegram channel “Kommersant FM”.
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