two of 27 professional participants received licenses to unlock client assets – Kommersant

Chairman of the Board of the National Settlement Depository (NSD) Viktor Zhidkov said that European regulators have approved applications from two Russian professional participants to unlock frozen client assets. A total of 27 such applications were submitted. 24 professional participants applied to unlock their own assets – none of them received a positive response.

“We can conclude that some result has been obtained, but to say that it is satisfactory would be disingenuous,” said Mr. Zhidkov, noting the low speed of processing licenses (quoted from “Vedomosti”). According to him, a number of licenses have not yet been reviewed, so a decision on them may be made later.

In June 2022, the European Union included NSD in the sanctions list, after which its accounts in the European depositories Euroclear and Clearstream were blocked. In October of the same year, the European Commission (EC) announced that some EU countries may allow transactions that would allow contracts and agreements concluded before the imposition of sanctions against NSD to be closed before January 7, 2023. After the EC’s statement, Russian professional participants submitted requests for licenses to the authorities of Belgium and Luxembourg in order to lift the block on the assets of investors who are not on the sanctions lists.