Several major Wall Street banks in New York deal with Russian securities. They carry out transactions only with the papers available in clientsʼ portfolios and give investors a chance to get rid of Russian assets.
This is reported by Reuters, referring to bank documents that have been reviewed by journalists.
Most U.S. and European banks pulled out of the market in June 2022 after the U.S. Treasury Department barred U.S. investors from buying any Russian securities under sanctions against Russia, according to an investor who owns Russian securities and two banking sources..
The Treasury Department issued further guidance in July, and Wall Streetʼs biggest firms cautiously returned to the Russian government and corporate bond market, according to emails and reports from clients and Reuters sources.
According to reporters, among the banks currently operating in the market are JPMorgan Chase & Co, Bank of America Corp, Citigroup Inc, Deutsche Bank AG, Barclays Plc and Jefferies Financial Group Inc.
Bank of America, Barclays, Citi and JPMorgan declined to comment.
A Jefferies spokesman said the company is "working within global sanctions guidelines to facilitate our clientsʼ needs to navigate this difficult situation."
A source close to Deutsche Bank told reporters that the bank trades bonds for clients only on request, considers each case individually and helps further reduce risk for its non-US clients. The Reuters interlocutor also added that Deutsche Bank will not take on new cases outside these categories.
- On July 22, the Ministry of Finance issued further guidance to help settle default insurance payments on Russian bonds. It was also said that banks could facilitate the settlement of Russian securities transactions if it would help the US owners get rid of Russian assets.