Euroclear restricts transactions on NSD account

MOSCOW. March 18 (Interfax) - Euroclear has restricted transactions on the account of Russia's National Settlement Depository (NSD), the NSD, which is part of the Moscow Exchange Group , said in a statement.

"According to received information, transactions on the NSD account have been restricted by Euroclear in order to implement regulation (EU) 899/2014 regarding restrictive measures in connection with Russia's actions that are destabilizing the situation in Ukraine, with amendments and updates made by council regulation (EU) 2022/328 dated February 25, 2022," the NSD said.

Euroclear is not executing any instructions to carry out transactions with securities and money, including instructions to participate in corporate actions on foreign securities.

This decision was made prior to Euroclear receiving clarification regarding the imposed sanctions from European regulators - the Finance Ministry of Belgium and the European Commission, the NSD said.

"The concrete timeframe for receiving clarification was not stated. The NSD will inform depositors of further changes as information is received from Euroclear," the NSD said.

Last week there were reports of problems with payment of coupons to Russian Eurobond holders.

The problem is due to the fact that most Russian holders of Eurobonds use the NSD, to which Euroclear is supposed to transfer money from issuers as to a lower-level depository. When money is transferred through Euroclear for coupon payments on Eurobonds or their redemption, funds are reaching foreign bondholders but not Russian ones, the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs (RSPP) said in a letter to the Central Bank of Russia.

At the beginning of March it was reported that the NSD also imposed restrictions on transactions on the accounts of Euroclear and Clearstream.