Belgium, Luxembourg extend deadline till end of July to file documents to unlock assets - Central Bank's Gabunia

ANISINO, MOSCOW REGION. March 2 (Interfax) - Regulators in Belgium and Luxembourg have extended the deadline for filing documents to unfreeze the assets of non-sanctioned persons frozen in the European depositories of Euroclear and Clearstream until the end of July, Central Bank of Russia Deputy Governor Philipp Gabunia said.

Gabunia recalled that the license was initially issued for a rather short period, and that it had expired on January 7, 2023.

"They announced the corresponding decisions that it is possible to apply to the Belgian regulator and the Luxembourg regulator for a license. Our professional participants, according to our data, queried all clients, everyone who agreed, and submitted packages for all of them. Now they are under consideration in those jurisdictions. The last information we received from them was that they had extended the opportunity to submit documents until the end of July, although the deadline was set, let me remind you, on January 7," Gabunia said.

The previously set period "was extremely short," he said. "And, here we must give the professional community its due, by the way, and credit organizations as well, which also have the appropriate licenses, as they have done a lot to collect and submit the relevant sets of documents for a license," the deputy governor said.

The opportunity to submit documents will last until July 24, Gabunia explained to journalists, adding that the decision was worded "floridly", but the Central Bank interprets it that way. This is not the term for consideration of the documents, but strictly the term for their submission, he said.

There has been no feedback on the documents already submitted, the deputy governor of the Central Bank said.

"All the large investors, behind which are many, many individuals who applied, have not yet received responses," Gabunia said.