Central Bank of Russia permits limited transactions with shares purchased from unfriendly non-residents before ban, but credited later

MOSCOW. June 11 (Interfax) - The Central Bank of Russia's board of directors has, according to Presidential Decree No. 138, established limits on the number and volume of transactions in exchange trading in Russian shares acquired from "unfriendly" non-residents before March 1, 2022, but credited later.

According to the published document, the maximum number of transactions with securities in one trading day should be no more than 10% of the total number of transactions completed by all trading participants for the current trading day at the time of application. Moreover, the total value of such transactions per day should not exceed 5% of the total value of transactions made by all trading participants.

"The decision is designed to uphold the interests of those investors who carried out transactions to purchase Russian shares before March 1, 2022, with securities credited to them after that date, given the specifics of the settlements," the CBR press service told Interfax. "These are securities purchased from 'unfriendly' non-residents by residents or friendly investors, the Central Bank said.

To conduct transactions with securities falling under the requirements of the decree, it is necessary to obtain appropriate permission from the government commission or the Bank of Russia, the Central Bank said. "When issuing permits, control will be exercised over the compliance of securities using the criteria established by the decision. Subsequent control will be exercised by the Bank of Russia," the regulator's press service said.

Russian President Vladimir Putin signed Decree No. 138 ("On additional temporary measures of an economic nature related to the circulation of securities") in March 2023, which introduced a special procedure for transactions with securities acquired after March 1, 2022 from "unfriendly" non-residents and credited to an account in the Russian depository.