Discounts applied upon liquidation of shares (underlying ADRs)

After the liquidation of the Sberbank shares underlying the ADR-program, various investors seem to wonder what the background is of this discount. Decree No. 81 of the President of the Russian Federation dated March 1, 2022, "On Additional Temporary Economic Measures to Ensure the Financial Stability of the Russian Federation" (Decree No. 81; https://www.consultant.ru/document/cons_doc_LAW_410578/ ) established a special procedure for the execution of transactions involving securities between residents of the Russian Federation and "persons of foreign states committing unfriendly acts". According to the general rule stipulated by Decree No. 81, transactions involving securities between residents of the Russian Federation and "unfriendly persons" are only possible with the permission of the Government Commission for the Control of Foreign Investment in the Russian Federation (the Government Commission). The minutes of the Government Commission meeting of th...

Payment of Sberbank dividends displayed in Interactive Brokers

Interactive Brokers has today started to display the payment of Sberbank dividends in the accounts of investors that hold ordinary Sberbank shares via Interactive Brokers (not ADRs). We have confirmed that the dividends over 2024 today showed up in these accounts of clients of Interactive Brokers. The process in which Interactive Brokers displays the dividends confirms the procedure following from the Central Bank of Russia decision that mandates that dividends that are not claimed via the Russian custodian (which is Raiffeisenbank Russia for Interactive Brokers) are forcefully credited to the type C account of the Western nominee holder (in this case Interactive Brokers LLC).