The Central Bank promised to compensate investors equally in assets in case of unfreezing

After the exchange of assets with foreigners, funds between Russian investors will be distributed in equal shares, said Deputy Chairman of the Bank of Russia Philip Gabunia on the sidelines of the Finopolis forum, an RBC correspondent reports.

“Now regulatory details will be prescribed, but the point is that everything will be divided evenly. For each client. Based on those who agree to participate, this story is voluntary. Perhaps someone will want to sit and wait for something to happen and get unlocked and sell. Of those who express a desire, a pool will be formed and will be divided in absolutely equal shares, based on the amount of exchange that will be obtained,” Gabunia explained, answering the question of how the proceeds from the exchange will be distributed among Russian investors if the amount offered by foreigners there will not be enough for all those affected by the blockages.

Earlier, First Deputy Chairman of the Central Bank Vladimir Chistyukhin noted that there is interest from foreign businesses in the exchange procedure. Russian professional participants have the same position. At the same time, foreign regulators are not yet ready to conduct a dialogue on this topic, stated Chistyukhin. But foreign participants interested in the exchange can “try to convince” their regulators of the need for the procedure, the first deputy chairman believes.

The presidential decree on the exchange of assets between Russian and foreign investors came into force on November 8. On the Russian side, private investors whose portfolio of blocked assets does not exceed 100 thousand rubles will be able to take part in the exchange. Foreigners, using funds from type “C” accounts (all payments on Russian securities go to these accounts for non-residents), will be able to buy foreign securities from Russians and then withdraw them to their jurisdictions, it follows from the decree.

The exchange will be carried out through bidding. The bidding procedure will be determined by the government commission for control of foreign investment in Russia. The Bank of Russia will regulate the exchange procedure. He will need to adopt a number of regulatory documents that will determine the procedure for interaction between brokers and clients on this issue, the specifics of identifying non-residents, as well as the regime of the owner’s special transit securities account, which will be used to store foreign assets. According to Chistyukhin, all necessary documents will be accepted by the end of 2023. “But this does not mean that we will have some kind of practical project in the near future,” he clarified.