Situation with Russian Securities in Kazakhstan Explained

Kazakhstan's Central Securities Depository (KCSD) commented on its request to market participants to withdraw Russian securities from their holdings. The organization confirmed that this decision is related to US sanctions, Orda.kz reports.

As explained by the depository's press service, the notice was indeed sent to individual depositors. The Russian media RBK was the first to report on this. The reason is that the US imposed blocking sanctions on the Russian National Settlement Depository (NSD).

The letter from the Central Depository specifies a deadline of August 10. It was set due to the fact that the Central Depository itself needs time to receive and process instructions from clients. We are talking about several securities with ISINs (identification numbers) "RU", which are registered in the NSD, the KCSD press service reported.

The Central Depository confirmed that it has decided to notify clients in advance about possible issues, restrictions, and execution of orders on Russian securities.

When processing instructions from clients, the Central Depository will consider the possibility of their execution from the point of view of assessing the risks and consequences that may arise as a result of the execution of these instructions for the Central Depository,  the organization's press service warned.

On July 11, reports surfaced that KCSD sent its clients notifications asking them to withdraw Russian securities from its nominal holding. The Russian depository NSD is under US Treasury Department sanctions along with the Moscow Exchange.