OFAC extends license to wind down operations with Moscow Exchange until Oct 12

MOSCOW. Aug 2 (Interfax) - The U.S. Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has extended the license to wind down operations with Moscow Exchange and its group members National Clearing Center (NCC) and National Settlement Depository (NSD) until October 12, OFAC said.

OFAC added Moscow Exchange, NCC and NSD to the sanctions list on June 12 and issued a license to wind down operations with them by August 13.

The Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation (OFSI), the UK regulator in charge of enforcing sanctions, said it, too, had extended its general license which allows for the sale, divestment or transfer of financial instruments held at the NSD and the payment of safe keeping fees until October 12. The license was originally issued on July 3 until August 13.

"The general license grants general permission to carry out a certain category of transactions. In other words, if a certain transaction is covered by the general license, then there is no need to obtain an individual license from the regulator," Artem Kasumyan, a lawyer at the Delcredere Bar Association, told Interfax, adding that this was not directly related to the arrangement for exchanging blocked assets launched in March 2024.

The UK joined the U.S. in sanctioning Moscow Exchange, NCC and NSD on June 13 this year. NSD had been under EU sanctions since June 13, 2022.