US extends license for operations with Moscow Exchange

The Treasury Department on Friday announced an extension for transactions with the platform and several subsidiaries

The US Treasury Department has extended a license allowing transactions with the Moscow Stock Exchange (MOEX) and its two subsidiaries until October 12, according to a statement published on the department’s website on Friday.

Russia's MOEX, the National Clearing Center (NCC) and the National Settlement Depository (NSD) were added to a sanctions list by the US Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) on June 12. OFAC then issued a license to wind down operations with the entities by August 13.

“All transactions prohibited by Executive Order (E.O.) 14024 that are ordinarily incident and necessary to the wind down of any transaction involving one or more of the following blocked entities are authorized through 12:01 a.m. eastern daylight time, October 12, 2024,” OFAC’s latest statement reads.

In June, the US government unveiled a major round of sanctions targeting Russia’s financial sector and currency market. The Moscow Exchange subsequently announced the suspension of trading in US dollars and euros, noting its impact on the foreign and precious metals sectors, as well as stock and currency trading in Russia’s largest public markets. All other financial instruments remained operational, MOEX said.

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The Treasury Department’s decision to extend transactions with the Moscow Exchange could be a sign that “some common sense has started to emerge in the minds of American politicians,” the chairman of the Russian State Duma’s Financial Markets Committee, Anatoly Aksakov, told Parlamentskaya Gazeta on Friday following the news.

He said that while the sanctions “created certain problems for Russia, they could not significantly affect financial processes.”

American officials may have started to realize that by imposing sanctions against Russia, they are doing “more harm to the US financial system” and undermining the dollar, Aksakov said.

On Friday, the Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation (OFSI), the UK regulator in charge of enforcing sanctions, also announced an extension of its general license allowing the sale, divestment, or transfer of financial instruments held at the NSD and the payment of safekeeping fees until October 12. The license was originally issued on July 3 until August 13.

The UK followed the US lead in sanctioning MOEX, NCC and NSD on June 13.