Russia looks to compensate holders of frozen foreign assets

Nearly $100 billion worth of investments held by Russians have been blocked by the West

The Central Bank of Russia (CBR) is considering creating a compensation fund for local investors whose assets have been frozen by Western nations, Governor Elvira Nabiullina said on Thursday during the plenary session of the Moscow Financial Forum. 

“In order to regain the confidence of investors, we have discussed with representatives of banks mechanisms that would mitigate the problem of frozen assets for people who have invested in financial markets,” Nabiullina said, adding “we are now discussing the idea of a compensation fund for such investors.”

The regulator explained that the compensation could come from the income generated by the funds belonging to nonresidents that have been frozen in Russia.

Moscow’s access to the global financial and trading systems has been severely restricted as a result of the unprecedented sanctions by the US and its allies. Around six trillion rubles ($100 billion) of foreign shares held by Russians have been frozen as a result of the restrictions, according to CBR estimates in July. On Wednesday, the regulator highlighted that more than five million people in Russia have foreign stocks in accounts that have been frozen because of the sanctions.

In July, President Putin signed a law allowing Russian investors to ask foreign institutions holding their frozen securities to transfer depositary accounting rights to a Russian organization.

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