Post #556

🧵 Today we’re publishing a report on frozen assets of private, non-sanctioned individuals in the EU. It’s prepared by Ideas for Russia, a research project of the Boris Nemtsov Foundation. The idea for this report came when we realized that almost no EU officials or politicians dealing with Russia knew about this issue — or its scale. Western media rarely covered it, focusing instead on sovereign assets or those of sanctioned oligarchs. Our report answers a key question: 👉 Why did about 3.5 million clients of the Russian financial system end up under de facto sanctions? It also includes anonymized data from one of Russia’s largest brokers. Together with sociologists from Social Foresight Group, we conducted a survey of 851 respondents and spoke with affected and experts. The data helps us draw a portrait of a typical Russian investor in foreign securities. Why did so many people hold foreign securities? A few reasons: 1️⃣ The fintech revolution — you could buy stocks in a few clicks. 2️⃣ Distrust in Russia’s pension system — people started saving independently. 3️⃣ Tax incentives for individual investment accounts since 2015. 4️⃣ Massive marketing campaigns by major brokers and banks. Many affected are emigrants and ordinary middle-class investors. Why are their securities blocked in Euroclear and Clearstream? Because European depositories don’t see the final beneficiaries. They only see the Russian intermediaries — all of which are under sanctions (NRD, SPB Exchange, major banks). Estimated frozen assets: about $14 billion. Exact numbers are unknown due to the non-transparency of Europe’s depositaries and Belgian and Russian regulators in this matter. Is there a mechanism to unlock funds for non-sanctioned individuals? Yes — but it’s expensive and slow. In 3.5 years, just over 50 individual licenses have been issued. Key data from the broker: • 233,475 clients affected (less than 1% are legal entities) • 81.6% have < 100k RUB frozen • 15.1% — between 100k and 1M RUB • 2.7% — between 1M and 6M RUB Survey insights: • 40.5% of respondents live outside Russia • 37% work in IT • Median amount frozen: $60,000 — typical long-term savings for the middle class. Read full report in English