OFAC to consider appeal of St. Petersburg Bank to unblock client assets

MOSCOW. June 5 (Interfax) - The US Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has registered and accepted the application of St. Petersburg Bank submitted in May to unfreeze client assets for consideration, the leading lawyer for the St. Petersburg Exchange settlement depository and project manager for unlocking assets Oleg Nafikov said.

"On May 29, the Office of Foreign Assets Control of the US Department of the Treasury (OFAC) accepted a collective appeal from St. Petersburg Bank, submitted with the goal of unblocking all client assets. The St. Petersburg Bank team, together with international consultants specializing in interaction with OFAC, described the possible mechanisms for unblocking in sufficient detail. Currently, our application has been assigned a case ID. This means that OFAC has registered our application and accepted it for consideration," Nafikov said.

OFAC added SPB Exchange to the sanctions list on November 2, 2023, and SPB Bank on February 23, 2024.

After the introduction of American sanctions, trading in foreign securities on the St. Petersburg Exchange was suspended, and investor assets worth about $3 billion were blocked. Foreign counterparties, including those from friendly jurisdictions, suspended interaction with the trading platform due to fears of liability for violating US sanctions, including the application of secondary sanctions, the exchange said.

St. Petersburg Bank, the settlement depositary of the St. Petersburg Exchange, announced on May 20 that it had submitted an appeal to OFAC to unfreeze client assets.