Court removes arrest of Credit Suisse Russian subsidiary's shares after it pays debt to TCB

MOSCOW. April 5 (Interfax) - The Moscow Arbitration Court has canceled interim measures that prohibited Credit Suisse AG from accessing its Russian assets. The reason for the cancellation was the payment by the bank of the principal amount under a claim from Transcapitalbank (TCB), according to court files.

At the end of 2020, UzAuto Motors signed a loan agreement with Credit Suisse AG for up to 150 million euros. In the spring of 2021, TCB joined the lending group, allocating 10 million euros. On April 19, 2022, there was a repayment, and the next day, on April 20, the US Treasury imposed blocking sanctions against TCB.

On the day when it was necessary to make a payment, April 19, 2022, TCB changed its bank details. As a result, Credit Suisse required two days to verify the new details before sending the money. Thus, the funds were sent by the agent bank on April 21, after the imposition of sanctions. As a result, the money never reached TCB. Two months later, TCB filed a claim with the Moscow Arbitration Court against Credit Suisse for the recovery of 10.04 million euros.

TCB was forced to change its bank details due to the policy of European counterparty banks to promptly close correspondent accounts belonging to Russian banks during the sanctions period. At the same time, neither TCB's correspondent bank nor TCB itself received the payment, that is, the transfer of funds was not initiated while it was still Credit Suisse's responsibility, Transcapitalbank said.

During the proceedings, TCB tried several times to impose interim measures on Credit Suisse's assets. The bank pointed out that their "non-acceptance would significantly complicate execution of the judicial act or make it impossible." TCB's concerns were caused, in particular, by the public statement of Credit Suisse about the reduction of its presence in Russia and the application of sanctions imposed by the EU and the United States. However, the court twice denied TCB's application for the measures, as the bank did not provide sufficient evidence and did not specify the property for seizure.

TCB managed to achieve the application of interim measures on its third attempt. On July 19, 2022, the court, at the request of the bank, froze 10.038 million euros belonging to Credit Suisse AG and located on its accounts in Moscow. It also banned Credit Suisse AG from disposing of 99.999995% of the shares of Credit Suisse (Moscow) bank and 99.9999073% of its share in the charter capital of Credit Suisse Securities (Moscow) LLC.

At the end of January 2023, the court satisfied TCB's claim, since the inclusion of the bank in the SDN list "cannot be a basis for releasing the defendant from liability in the form of damages." On March 22, Credit Suisse fully repaid the debt to TCB.

"For the most part, we consider the issue with Credit Suisse settled," the press service of TCB told Interfax.

Despite this, TCB was against the cancellation of the interim measures, since in addition to the amount of the claim, the bank also intends to recover legal costs from Credit Suisse, the case file says.