Recently Yahoo News on-line reported the following:
Putin’s Broken Market Link Puts Trades Worth Billions in
Limbo
Giulia Morpurgo and Lyubov Pronina
Tue, June 14, 2022, 9:00 PM
(Bloomberg) -- Russia’s central bank is keeping a close
watch on a key piece of market infrastructure targeted by European Union
sanctions.
Asked after Friday’s interest-rate decision whether the Bank
of Russia would join potential lawsuits to fight a freeze on the National
Settlement Depository, Governor Elvira Nabiullina said officials are “working
on the best strategy and tactics.”
And since the European Union blacklisted the NSD directly at the start of June, there’s little chance transactions with those assets will be freed up anytime soon.
Here’s a closer look at Russia’s crumbling market bridge:
Foreign Ties
Housed in modern offices opposite Moscow’s 19th century Yelokhovsky Cathedral, the NSD established links over the years with foreign clearing houses, custodian banks and international securities regulators.
That gave overseas investors easy access to Russian assets, helping curb trading overheads and pushing down the cost of capital for local corporations and the government.
But the wave of international sanctions and local capital controls that followed President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine have cut Russia off from financial markets, pushing the government toward its first foreign default in a century.
The NSD’s accounts at the world’s biggest settlement systems -- Euroclear Bank SA and Clearstream Banking AG -- are the source of most pain.
Pimco Warned US Treasury That Russia Sanctions Will Hit Pensions
Impact of War
In the wake of the Feb. 24 attack, Euroclear froze transactions with the NSD as it vetted the depository to make sure it wasn’t in breach of sanctions, according to people familiar with the situation, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the details aren’t public.
The processing of trades slowed almost to a standstill, and then at the start of this month, the European Union blacklisted the NSD outright.
The depository was deemed to be “directly and indirectly enabling” the Russian government, because of the “high degree” of state control over its owner -- the Moscow Exchange -- the EU said in its official journal.
Euroclear implemented an asset freeze on the NSD in response, halting the due diligence it had been conducting. For its part, the NSD promptly suspended transactions in euros, announcing an “emergency” situation.
Scope of the Damage
The limits on the NSD’s accounts froze securities worth tens of billions of dollars.
Non-residents had exposure equivalent to about $48 billion of Russian equity and $38 billion of fixed income -- mostly government ruble bonds known as OFZs -- via the NSD, according to Iskander Lutsko, chief investment strategist at ITI, one of Russia’s top ten brokerages. Euroclear has also blocked about $27 billion of foreign assets, principally shares, held by Russians, Lutsko said.
Despite the sanctions, Russian companies and the state have so far managed to pay investors about $6.5 billion in coupons and maturities since early March, according to data compiled by Bloomberg News. Locals relying on their NSD account at Euroclear to access those payments have missed out.
The conversion of depository receipts of Russian companies listed abroad into local shares has also stopped due to the block on the NSD.
Bottleneck
Before the most recent restrictions, transactions involving assets denominated in currencies other than the ruble were eligible for settlement provided the securities or the counter-parties involved weren’t the subject of EU penalties, according to Euroclear’s website.
For each deal with a Russian counter-party, Euroclear required a so-called MT 599 attestation to prove no penalties were breached and due diligence had been performed.
While this allowed unsanctioned Russian banks and market participants with their own Euroclear accounts to keep settling their trades, those going via the NSD’s accounts at Euroclear were blocked.
OFZ Optimism
Russia’s isolation contrasts with the optimism of a decade ago, when the Russian Finance Ministry was pushing ahead with a direct link to international clearing houses for its local OFZ bonds.
Eventually, Euroclear started direct settlement of Russian ruble-denominated government debt in February 2013, opening the market to foreign investors, who no longer needed to trade via local brokers.
Access to municipal and corporate debt markets followed in the months after, while it took several years more for global custodian banks to be able to open direct accounts at the NSD.
Translation
（彭博社）- 俄羅斯央行正在密切關注被歐盟制裁針對的一個關鍵市場基礎設施。
在周五的利率決定後，當被問及俄羅斯央行是否會加入潛在訴訟以對抗 國家結算存管處 (NSD) 的被凍結時，行長 Elvira Nabiullina 表示，官員們正在“制定最佳戰略和策略”。
很少有機構能比 NSD 更能代表俄羅斯入侵烏克蘭後突然陷入的金融孤立。據莫斯科的 ITI Capital 經紀公司估計，在入侵發生後，全球最大的結算系統凍結了其賬戶，導致價值超過 1000 億美元的股票和債券被凍結。
而且由於歐盟在 6 月初直接將 NSD 列入黑名單，因此與這些資產進行的交易幾乎不可能很快被釋放。
以下仔細看看俄羅斯搖搖欲墜的市場聯繫：
外交連係
NSD 位於莫斯科 19 世紀 Yelokhovsky 大教堂對面的現代化辦公室內，多年來與外國票據交換所、託管銀行和國際證券監管機構建立了聯繫。
這使海外投資者可以輕鬆獲得俄羅斯資產，幫助當地公司和政府控制交易成本費及降低資產成本。
但是，在普京總統入侵烏克蘭之後，國際制裁和地方資本管制浪潮切斷了俄羅斯與金融市場的聯繫，將政府推向了一個世紀以來的首次外國違約。
NSD 在全球最大結算系統中的賬戶 - Euroclear Bank SA 和 Clearstream Banking AG, 是最痛苦的根源。
PIMCO 警告美國財政部，制裁俄羅斯將打擊養老金
戰爭的影響
據知情人以資料是非開為理由匿用名透露，在 2 月 24 日的入侵事件發生後，Euroclear因為要對存管處進行了審查，以確保它沒有違反制裁規定, 而凍結了與 NSD 的交易。
處理交易的速度幾乎停滯不前，然後在本月初，歐盟將 NSD 徹底列入黑名單。
歐盟在其官方公報中表示，由於俄國政府對 NSD 擁有者 - 莫斯科交易所 的 “高度” 控制，該存管機構被認為 “直接和間接地支持” 俄羅斯政府。
作為回應，Euroclear 對 NSD 實施了資產凍結，停止了其一直在進行的業務綜合評估。NSD就其本身而言，立即暫停了歐元交易，宣佈出現“緊急”情況。
損害範圍
NSD 賬戶的限制凍結了價值數百億美元的證券。
ITI 首席投資策略師 Iskander Lutsko 表示，非居民通過 NSD 持有約 480 億美元的俄羅斯股票和 380 億美元的固定收益, 主要是被稱為 OFZ 的政府盧布債券，ITI是俄羅斯十大券商之一。 Lutsko 說，Euroclear 還凍結了俄羅斯人持有的約 270 億美元的外國資產，主要是股票。
據彭博新聞社彙編的數據顯示，儘管受到製裁，俄羅斯公司和國家自3月初以來能向投資者支付了約 65 億美元的票息和到期債券。當地依靠在 Euroclear 的 NSD 賬戶來獲得這些付款的人沒有這機會。
由於 NSD 的封鎖，俄羅斯境外上市公司的存託憑證轉換為當地股票的活動也已停止。
樽頸
根據 Euroclear 的網站，在最近的限制之前，涉及以盧布以外的貨幣計價的資產的交易有資格進行結算，但前提是所涉及的證券或交易對手不是歐盟處罰的對象。
對於與俄羅斯交易對手的每筆交易，Euroclear 都需要所謂的 MT 599 證明，以證明沒有違反任何處罰, 並且已經進行了應有的調查。
雖然這樣會允許擁有自己的 Euroclear 賬戶的未受制裁的俄羅斯銀行和市場參與者繼續結算他們的交易，但那些通過 NSD 在 Euroclear 賬戶的交易就被阻止了。
OFZ 樂觀
俄羅斯的孤立與十年前的樂觀情緒形成鮮明對比，當時俄羅斯財政部正在推進與國際清算所的直接聯繫，以處理其當地的 OFZ 債券。
最終，Euroclear 於 2013 年 2 月開始直接結算俄羅斯盧布計價的政府債務，對外國投資者開放市場,不再他們需要通過當地經紀進行交易。
進入市政和企業債務的市場在幾個月後開放，而全球託管銀行則需要幾年時間才能在 NSD 開設直接賬戶。
So, since the invasion of Ukraine few institutions better represent Russia’s sudden financial isolation than the NSD. After Putin’s aggression into Ukraine, more than a hundred billion dollars’ worth of stocks and bonds were left blocked after the world’s biggest settlement systems froze NSD accounts. Let’s see whether this financial sanction will force Putin to reconsider his aggression.
Translation note:
1. PIMCO (Pacific Investment Management Company, LLC) is an American investment management firm focusing on active fixed income management worldwide.
沒有留言:
張貼留言