The authorities have chosen an organizer for the redemption of frozen assets from investors

The organizer of the repurchase of frozen assets from private investors and their further resale to foreigners will be the broker “Investment Chamber”. About 3.5 thousand exchange-traded instruments will be subject to exchange. Building of the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation

The broker "Investment Chamber" will be the organizer of trading, during which non-residents will have the right to buy back frozen foreign securities of Russian investors, according to a statement from the Ministry of Finance received by RBC. The corresponding decision was made on February 2 by the government commission for control of foreign investments, as specified in the release of the Investment Chamber itself.

The Legal Commission also established a procedure for calculating the total initial value of sold foreign securities owned by one resident and approved the conditions for trading, the Ministry of Finance noted. “Settlements for transactions (operations) carried out in accordance with the approved conditions must be completed before September 1, 2024 ,” it added.

As the Investment Chamber clarifies, resident individuals will be able to present more than 3.5 thousand exchange-traded instruments for redemption. Their list will be published on the broker's website.

The exchange will take place within the framework of President Vladimir Putin's decree No. 844, which he signed in early November. According to the document, foreign investors using money from type “C” accounts will be able to purchase foreign securities of Russians, which were blocked due to sanctions against the National Settlement Depository - it came under EU restrictions in June 2022, although transactions on securities ceased to take place yet earlier, shortly after the start of Russia's military operation in Ukraine . Putin’s decree noted that buyout transactions would be carried out through bidding, the procedure for which should be determined by the government commission. The Russian side is not negotiating with Western regulators regarding the exchange of assets, with the expectation that non-residents themselves who are interested in returning their money will have to obtain permission for the exchange.

First of all, the portfolios of Russian investors with an initial value of no more than 100 thousand rubles will be subject to exchange. (or part of the portfolio within this amount). However, the scheme will not solve all the problems of small investors, the Central Bank warned. “We have significantly more assets in our accounts when we talk about blocked ones. The money in type “C” accounts is probably not enough to completely cover this story,” noted Olga Shishlyannikova , director of the department of investment financial intermediaries of the Bank of Russia. At the same time, the Central Bank sees the interest of foreigners in the exchange procedure. In the future, the authorities may increase the amount for the exchange of frozen assets by investors from the current 100 thousand to 1 million rubles. and more, said the President and Chairman of the Board of VTB Andrey Kostin.

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Participation in the exchange will be voluntary. The Central Bank previously decided that control over whether securities declared by Russians do not exceed 100 thousand rubles in value will be carried out by brokers and managers. Assets purchased by non-residents will be credited to special transit securities accounts, which will be opened based on the results of the auction. The money that Russian investors receive from the sale will be transferred to accounts that they can specify themselves.

Investment Chamber LLC was founded in 1993, its central office is located in Voronezh. The company provides brokerage services to private clients, asset trust management, and direct investments. Now the owner of the company through a chain of legal entities is its CEO Alexey Sedushkin, data from the Unified State Register of Legal Entities shows.

After the introduction of sanctions on the Russian financial sector, some brokers transferred the assets of their clients to the Investment Chamber. According to the company’s own data, as of January 1, 2024, the amount of client assets in depository services amounted to 120 billion rubles. The broker's assets under management rose sharply in 2022, just after the transfer of assets from other brokers (the company is not under sanctions). “Investment Chamber” estimated the increase in assets “almost 50 times.” But “we need to separate living and non-living assets,” Sedushkin told RBC Investments: “According to my estimates, somewhere around 90-95% of the assets brought to us are blocked assets.”