Court arrests shares of Commerzbank Russian subsidiary and assets of JP Morgan on claim from Transcapitalbank
MOSCOW. May 3 (Interfax) - Transcapitalbank obtained interim measures in a claim against German banks J.P. Morgan and Commerzbank and their structures in Russia for 12.3 million euro (1.2 billion rubles), files from the Moscow Arbitration Court show.
The court seized 100% of the shares of Commerzbank (Eurasia) JSC, the funds in all bank accounts (except for C and I-type accounts) opened in the name of Commerzbank AG, J. P. Morgan SE and their Russian subsidiaries, as well as securities and real estate belonging to them within the amount of the claims. Meanwhile, the court refused to allow Transcapitalbank to seize the movable property of the defendants due to the lack of evidence that failure to take this measure would make it impossible to enforce the court decision and because it would also cause significant material damage to the banks.
The measures were taken due to the fact that the ban on conducting transactions in favor of Transcapitalbank, after it was included in the SDN List, is an obstacle to the execution of a decision by the Russian court in Germany, where the banks are located. The enforcement of the court decision is possible only inside Russia, and against property in Russia, Transcapitalbank said. In addition, measures are being introduced to protect the interests of bank depositors.
"As a result of the expropriation of funds by Commerzbank AG and J.P. Morgan SE, which are located in an unfriendly jurisdiction, the first to suffer will be retail bank depositors and legal entities that are urban development-related, agricultural, social, public and economically significant enterprises for the Russian Federation who received loans from Transcapitalbank," the court's ruling said.
Transcapitalbank filed a lawsuit against German J.P. Morgan and Commerzbank on March 5. J.P. Morgan Bank International LLC and Commerzbank (Eurasia) JSC were included in the suit. The third party in the case is the National Settlement Depository (NSD). The reason for the claim has not yet been disclosed; Transcapitalbank declined to comment. The first hearing in the case was supposed to take place on April 5, but was postponed until May 16.
Claims against German J.P. Morgan and Commerzbank and their Russian structures were also submitted by Absolut Bank and Alfa Capital Management Company in April. The management company intends to recover damages of 68.1 million euros. "These are client funds that were used to settle securities transactions and were accounted for in the NSD's account. After the European Union imposed sanctions against the NSD in June 2022, all the funds it had placed in Commerzbank (Germany) and J.P. Morgan (Germany) were frozen," Alfa Capital said.
Absolut Bank's lawsuit is related to the process of unblocking frozen assets, the bank's press service told Interfax. The amount of the claims is 1.92 billion rubles. The NSD is also a third party in the case.
The US Treasury introduced blocking sanctions against Transcapitalbank in April 2022.
Transcapitalbank ranks 27th in terms of assets in the Interfax-100 ranking based on its 2023 financial results.