A broker from the United States warned clients from Russia about the risks of

Many Interactive Brokers (IB) clients received official messages warning of possible account freezes. Copies of letters from IB were published by at least five users in a Russian-speaking group and chat dedicated to working with an American broker.

The broker lists several possible risks and, in particular, warns “residents of Russia” and clients “living in parts of Ukraine that are subject to sanctions imposed by various governments” about the possibility of blocking their accounts or transactions, “including deposits and withdrawals of funds.” "Customers should also be aware of the possibility of technical blocking of the international Internet infrastructure, which will affect the ability to access your IB accounts," the letter says.

“Interactive Brokers takes its sanctions obligations seriously and is taking steps to comply with US , UN and other relevant sanctions,” a company spokesman told RBC.

What is Interactive Brokers

American Interactive Brokers was one of the most popular foreign brokers among Russians. The company is not licensed in RUSSIA - it used to work through Russian partners, but in 2020 received a $38 million fine from the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and other regulators for failing to maintain policies to control money laundering. and then began to limit work with clients from Russia. As a result, by April 2021, she demanded that Russian brokers close accounts opened with IB.

Those who continued to work directly with IB also faced difficulties. For example, the company blocked the accounts of those customers who traveled to Crimea and accessed its application from there (it was difficult to unfreeze them). It also introduced an additional fee for Russian users for "annual due diligence" of their profiles, the commission could reach $350 every quarter, that is, $1400 per year.