Investors from Uzbekistan have significantly reduced their assets in brokerage accounts in Russia. This is reported by "Kommersant" based on data from the Bank of Russia.
By the end of the second quarter, the total number of non-resident accounts with Russian brokers increased by 2% to nearly 30.5 thousand. However, the assets in these accounts decreased by 9.6% to 1.77 trillion rubles ($18.4 billion). The growth in accounts was attributed to private investors, while the decline in assets was due to legal entities.
A source from "Kommersant" explains the reduction in assets as a result of June sanctions imposed by the United States against the Moscow Exchange, the National Clearing Center, and the National Settlement Depository. Lawyer Gleb Boyko from the law firm "Nektorov, Saveliev and Partners" believes that the unavailability of currency trading has affected the interest of foreign clients.
“After the sanctions against the NSD were implemented, many professional participants from neighboring countries do not want to continue accounting for Russian assets; consequently, residents are forced to bring these assets into the Russian framework,” notes lawyer Gleb Boyko.
Photo: “Kommersant”
Assets from Uzbekistan fell by 30% to 59.7 billion rubles ($621.4 million). A similar decline was observed among investors from Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan, as well as from offshore zones such as the Virgin Islands, Panama, and Belize.
“Kommersant” notes that the withdrawn funds are not only going to internal offshore zones (up 30%) but also to countries with more lenient regimes, including Hong Kong (+9%) and the Cayman Islands (+18%).
In June, the U.S. Department of the Treasury added the Moscow Exchange to the SDN list. The trading platform was accused of creating opportunities for "profiting from the Kremlin’s military machine through investments in sovereign debt, Russian corporations, and defense enterprises."
Earlier, Spot reported that the Kazakhstan Stock Exchange had ceased relations with the Moscow Exchange due to sanctions.