Sign up to create alerts for Instruments,
Economic Events and content by followed authors
Free Sign Up Already have an account? Sign In
Quotes
All Instrument Types
- All Instrument Types
- Indices
- Equities
- ETFs
- Funds
- Commodities
- Currencies
- Crypto
- Bonds
- Certificates
Please try another search
⏰ React to the Market Faster with Custom, Real-Time News Get Started
Russian retail investors file lawsuit over transfer of frozen assets
© Reuters.
MOSCOW (Reuters) - More than 40 private investors have filed a Moscow lawsuit against three Russian banks - VTB, Alfa Bank and Rosselkhozbank - challenging the transfer of their frozen assets to other brokerages after Western sanctions were imposed last year.
The claimants say that brokerages closed operations for retail investors too quickly after Russia sent its troops into Ukraine on Feb. 24 and so deprived them of a chance to sell their now-frozen assets. The suit also contests the decision by sanctioned brokerages to move their securities to other brokerages without their consent.
A hearing is scheduled at Moscow's Meshchansky Court on April 10.
"The class action lawsuit has been filed and accepted," one plaintiff, Svetlana Mavrinskaya, told Reuters. She expects the total number to reach 48 once all documents have been filed.
"In addition to the transfer, we will raise the issue of the wrongful closure of securities trading (in VTB's trading system) from March 1, 2022," she added. "We expect justice from the court, we want to get our money back from the banks."
Russia's second-largest bank VTB, which came under harsh sanctions over a year ago, said the assets of around 500,000 former customers were blocked.
VTB said it had started a process while under sanctions to transfer clients with foreign securities to protect investors' interests.
"This transfer was carried out strictly in line with existing legislation," VTB said in a statement. "We regret that a small group of investors did not appreciate our efforts.
"But we value every client, including former ones, and in any case we are continuing to do everything in our power to defend their interests."
VTB said it had also sought to unfreeze former client assets in Belgium and Luxembourg. Alfa Bank and Rosselkhozbank did not respond to requests for comment.
Related Articles
Add Chart to Comment
Confirm Block
Are you sure you want to block %USER_NAME%?
By doing so, you and %USER_NAME% will not be able to see any of each other's Investing.com's posts.
%USER_NAME% was successfully added to your Block List
Since you’ve just unblocked this person, you must wait 48 hours before renewing the block.
Report this comment
I feel that this comment is:
Comment flagged
Thank You!
Your report has been sent to our moderators for review
Add a Comment
We encourage you to use comments to engage with other users, share your perspective and ask questions of authors and each other. However, in order to maintain the high level of discourse we’ve all come to value and expect, please keep the following criteria in mind:
Enrich the conversation, don’t trash it.
Stay focused and on track. Only post material that’s relevant to the topic being discussed.
Be respectful. Even negative opinions can be framed positively and diplomatically. Avoid profanity, slander or personal attacks directed at an author or another user. Racism, sexism and other forms of discrimination will not be tolerated.
Perpetrators of spam or abuse will be deleted from the site and prohibited from future registration at Investing.com’s discretion.