NSD confirmed receipt of permission from the Luxembourg Ministry of Finance to unblock assets

Luxembourg's Finance Ministry has granted permission to unblock assets that were frozen due to sanctions against the National Settlement Depository, part of the Moscow Exchange Group, according to NSD's announcement and a document on the regulator's website.

"NSD received its first general license from the European regulator. Comments and interpretations of the text will be given later - after consultation with the group's legal adviser," the depository's press service said.

According to the text of the license, permission applies to transactions to complete transactions concluded before June 3. These transactions must be completed by January 7, 2023.

In early June, the European Union put the National Settlement Depository on the sanctions lists under the sixth package of sanctions against Russia. Later, Switzerland joined in. As a result, in addition to the Russian clients' securities and money that have been immobilized in NSD's accounts with Euroclear and Clearstream since March, funds in euros and francs in the depository's accounts with foreign correspondent banks were also blocked.

According to the Central Bank, the volume of resident securities blocked at NSD amounts to the equivalent of about six trillion rubles, including more than five million individual investors in Russia with foreign shares blocked in their accounts due to the actions of hostile countries, worth more than 320 billion rubles.