SPB Exchange conducting transactions with securities listed on American exchanges without restrictions
MOSCOW. March 25 (Interfax) - SPB Exchange is conducting transactions with securities listed on American trading floors without restrictions, said Roman Goryunov, the exchange's head.
"Clients are buying shares, which our settlement depository accounts for through a chain of international depositories. We have several international depositary locations. At Russian brokers, they keep securities in our settlement depository. Our settlement depository is already in international depositories," he said in an interview with Tinkoff Private Talks.
But operations with European shares are limited for a whole range of reasons. "As for European stocks, settlements in euros are difficult now. European banks have tough restrictions on transactions in euros, so this is now temporarily suspended. I hope that in the near future there will be clarity regarding the settlements mechanisms and that it will be possible to continue operations, well, at least for the sale of securities," Goryunov said.
He also said there were difficulties interacting with the international depositary Euroclear. "The opportunities for transactions on the accounts of Russian companies in Euroclear are limited, so, when you sell something, these securities need to be transferred to other depositories. These transactions are temporarily not being carried out until it can be explained how these accounts should work. We hope for clarification in the near future, but so far there is uncertainty, so transactions to transfer securities from Euroclear to other international depositories are not going through," he said.
The rights to the securities have not gone away, it is simply impossible now to move these securities to another depository for transactions.
"Everything is okay with the rest of the depositaries, and clients who have securities there do have the opportunity to trade," he said.
Asked about the likelihood of access to American and European securities being restricted, Goryunov said that so far the exchange is successfully solving the problem of providing clients with access to foreign trading floors.
"We live in such a changing world, and so many different things are happening that it is of course very difficult to predict the future. But we can state that we see our task, and within a month, in my opinion, we will successfully accomplish it, so that investors have the opportunity to carry out operations in any market environment, so that the exchange infrastructure works, settlements are carried out and transactions go through, and so far we are succeeding. I hope the situation will not change going forward, either," he said.
The exchange is still committed to the best execution principle, and for this reason it has even been necessary to shorten trading time and synchronize it as much as possible with international platforms, he said.