The Bank of Russia has taken a decision to limit the circulation of foreign securities blocked by international settlement and clearing organizations in organized trading. The restriction does not apply to securities of foreign issuers that carry out production and economic activities primarily in Russia. The purpose of introducing these restrictions is to protect the rights and interests of investors and minimize their risks.
The Central Bank noted that investors will retain the right of ownership of the restricted securities.
Moscow Exchange and SPB Exchange issued clarifications on the restriction of exchange trading in foreign securities blocked by international depositories introduced by the Central Bank from May 30, 2022.
The Moscow Exchange does not impose additional restrictions on transactions with foreign securities, all existing trading modes remain unchanged.
The clarifications of the SPB Exchange note that the Central Bank of the Russian Federation sent an order to the participants of the SPB Exchange trading and the depositories serving them to determine and separate foreign securities that are accounted for and kept on the accounts of the SPB Exchange's settlement depository Best Efforts Bank with NSD.
For each denomination of foreign securities, the proportion of shares between securities available for trading and segregated securities accounted for by NSD is determined. Based on the proportion obtained, the number of securities to be transferred to the non-trading section of the depo sub-account is determined on the account of each client owning such denominations of securities. This procedure will affect only those clients whose portfolio contains the names of securities subject to segregation. Only a part of such securities will be segregated in the client's portfolio, their exact number will be determined based on the principle of proportionality.
The decoupling will affect securities that have passed primary listing on US stock exchanges, with the exception of HeadHunter Group PLC, Yandex N.V., Ozon Holdings PLC, and Cian PLC. The decoupling will also not apply to securities listed on other exchanges, in particular securities of TCS Group Holding PLC and Fix Price Group Ltd.
Nadmitov, Ivanov and Partners Law Firm provides a wide range of services for legal support of financial transactions, including the withdrawal and unblocking of foreign securities.