VTB receives refusal from Belgium to unfreeze clients' assets

MOSCOW. May 22 (Interfax) - The Belgian Treasury refused VTB's request to obtain a license to unfreeze client assets frozen in Euroclear, the Russian bank said in a statement.

VTB sent requests to the Belgian Treasury and the Luxembourg Ministry of Finance in January 2023 to obtain licenses to unlock foreign securities and income from them owned by its clients. These are the assets of investors who were brokered by VTB, and those whose accounts could have been credited with coupons, dividends or funds from the redemption of securities before the transfer of assets.

VTB said it would continue to work on obtaining licenses. The bank will specifically consider the possibility of, and is exploring grounds for, filing an administrative complaint against the regulator's decision to a higher authority, namely the Belgian State Council.

The bank is also providing support to clients who submit requests for individual licenses, the statement said.

Previously, Alfa Capital, Digital Broker and Tinkoff Insurance had received refusals from the Belgian Treasury to unfreeze assets in Euroclear.

Interaction between the European central depositories Euroclear, Clearstream and the Russian central depository NSD (National Settlement Depository, part of the Moscow Exchange group ) broke down almost immediately after the start of events in Ukraine. The Russian authorities, in response to tough sanctions, then introduced currency and capital restrictions, and European settlement and clearing organizations closed ruble "bridges" and the possibility of settlements in rubles. NSD introduced restrictions on transactions with Euroclear and Clearstream accounts based on instructions from the Russian Central Bank at the beginning of March 2022. In turn, European central depositories have limited transactions on the NSD account.

The European Union included NSD in its sanctions list at the beginning of June 2022, which led to the blocking of its accounts with Euroclear and Clearstream. The European Commission published clarifications in early October 2022 according to which the authorities of individual EU member countries could authorize transactions necessary to close contracts and agreements concluded before the imposition of sanctions against NSD by January 7, 2023. Russian investors have submitted requests for general licenses to the Ministries of Finance of Belgium and Luxembourg to unlock the assets of all non-sanctioned investors.