SPB Exchange changing CEO and strategy in response to sanctions, will focus on instruments with ruble settlements

MOSCOW. Nov 7 (Interfax) - SPB Exchange CEO Roman Goryunov is leaving his post, and will be replaced by first deputy CEO Yevgeny Serdyukov, the trading platform said in a statement.

Goryunov is also resigning from the exchange's board of directors.

The statement notes that Serdyukov will primarily continue to collaborate with counterparties to establish a procedure for operations under the sanctions.

"Once the high-priority task has been resolved, the SPB Exchange will implement a new development strategy, within whose framework the focus will be on trading in investment instruments with settlements in rubles, and maintaining and developing projects on the Russian financial market," Serdyukov said in the statement.

The SPB Exchange is resistant to shocks and has a sufficient level of capital, Serdyukov emphasized. "The SPB Exchange team has significant operating experience and in developing business under conditions of uncertainty and extreme infrastructure changes in the financial market," Serdyukov added.

The United States Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), which is responsible for enforcing sanctions, added the SPB Exchange to the sanctions list on November 2. The exchange suspended trading in foreign and Russian shares following the announcement and the same day said that it planned to resume trading on November 6. However, it began trading in a limited list of Russian securities on November 3.