Russian Finance Ministry ready to modify mechanism for exchanging blocked assets, but demand needed from non-residents

MOSCOW. Nov 20 (Interfax) - The Russian Finance Ministry supports potentially continuing the procedure for exchanging the assets of investors blocked in Russia and abroad and is open to considering modifications to the mechanism, but the issue depends on the readiness of non-residents, Deputy Finance Minister Ivan Chebeskov said.

"We are ready to continue and in some cases even modify the approaches to assist our citizens. We will therefore primarily respond to requests coming from investors. If they have such an opportunity, we are ready to participate," Chebeskov told reporters.

When asked how the mechanism could be modified, Chebeskov said, "We previously discussed the possibility of increasing the limits, as well as the possibility of using not only funds in C accounts but also securities owned by investors from unfriendly countries. However, no specifics or options are currently being worked on due to restrictions imposed by regulators on their investors."

Non-residents initially showed very strong interest in participating in the exchange, but now have serious concerns, he said.

Russian President Vladimir Putin in November 2023 signed Decree No. 844 "On additional temporary economic measures related to the circulation of foreign securities", which sets conditions to exchange investors' assets blocked in Russia and abroad. The decree allows non-residents to buy out the blocked foreign securities of Russian investors with money held in their C-type accounts. Russian investors could apply to sell securities with a total starting price of up to 100,000 rubles, recorded in the accounts of the National Settlement Depository.

The Investment Chamber, which acts as the organizer of exchanges of blocked assets between Russian investors and non-residents, has so far conducted two rounds of settlements for the buyback of blocked securities.

In total, non-residents have acquired blocked assets from Russian investors worth 10.64 billion rubles.

In October, the Investment Chamber said that it was considering launching a new round of blocked asset exchanges.