15.02.2024, 22:20
The head of Euroclear warned about the risks of mortgaging Russian assets
Source: OREANDA-NEWS
OREANDA-NEWS The use of frozen Russian assets as collateral for loans to Kiev can be considered their "indirect confiscation" and expose the EU to an increased risk of financial instability, Liv Mostry, executive director of the Belgian depository Euroclear, said in an interview with the Financial Times.
At the same time, the head of the depository said that the organization would agree to allocate part of the profit from assets for the restoration of Ukraine. According to her, the risks in this case are slightly lower, since this profit "legally belongs to Euroclear."
According to Mostri, the organization has faced 50-100 lawsuits in Russian courts over frozen assets and the number of cases is likely to grow. She noted that the company has already lost several cases and, despite appeals, it is unlikely that the result will change.
After the start of the special operation in Ukraine, the EU and the G7 countries froze almost half of Russia's foreign exchange reserves worth about 300 billion euros. About 200 billion are in the European Union, mainly in the accounts of the Belgian Euroclear. In October 2023, the company announced that in nine months it had earned about three billion euros as interest on investing sanctioned Russian assets.
At the end of last year, the European Commission proposed accumulating the windfall income received in this way in separate accounts, pending further proposals. It is assumed that this money can be transferred to Ukraine.
At the beginning of 2024, the official representative of the EC, Eric Mamer, announced the lack of progress on this issue. As US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen noted, Washington has not yet made a decision on the confiscation of Russian assets for transfer to Ukraine, but is involved in working out possible options within the framework of the G7.
At the same time, according to The Washington Post columnist Josh Rogin, the American administration will not be able to implement a scheme to use frozen foreign exchange reserves to help Ukraine without the consent of European countries.
At the same time, the head of the depository said that the organization would agree to allocate part of the profit from assets for the restoration of Ukraine. According to her, the risks in this case are slightly lower, since this profit "legally belongs to Euroclear."
According to Mostri, the organization has faced 50-100 lawsuits in Russian courts over frozen assets and the number of cases is likely to grow. She noted that the company has already lost several cases and, despite appeals, it is unlikely that the result will change.
After the start of the special operation in Ukraine, the EU and the G7 countries froze almost half of Russia's foreign exchange reserves worth about 300 billion euros. About 200 billion are in the European Union, mainly in the accounts of the Belgian Euroclear. In October 2023, the company announced that in nine months it had earned about three billion euros as interest on investing sanctioned Russian assets.
At the end of last year, the European Commission proposed accumulating the windfall income received in this way in separate accounts, pending further proposals. It is assumed that this money can be transferred to Ukraine.
At the beginning of 2024, the official representative of the EC, Eric Mamer, announced the lack of progress on this issue. As US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen noted, Washington has not yet made a decision on the confiscation of Russian assets for transfer to Ukraine, but is involved in working out possible options within the framework of the G7.
At the same time, according to The Washington Post columnist Josh Rogin, the American administration will not be able to implement a scheme to use frozen foreign exchange reserves to help Ukraine without the consent of European countries.
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