Sberbank to decide fate of frozen assets for which Central Bank of Russia did not approve isolation procedure in August

MOSCOW. July 29 (Interfax) - The Central Bank of Russia has not granted approval for some of Sberbank's frozen assets to be isolated, Sberbank CFO Taras Skvortsov said.

"We have received a response to our request from the regulator. In the response regarding some of the assets which were in the letter, the regulator said that it did not consider it possible to grant approval for their isolation. Therefore, we will not be able to isolate them in their initial form in any case," Skvortsov said in a conference call on Wednesday.

"We have another methodological issue to resolve with them, and we are now waiting for additional clarification on this. After we receive this additional response, we will decide on how to proceed: we will either adjust our application taking into account the regulator's response, or we will make some other decisions. At some point in August, we will make a decision on this matter and our next steps," Skvortsov said.

Federal Law No. 292-FZ allows banks to create a special legal entity by the end of 2026 and transfer assets and liabilities frozen owing to sanctions to its balance sheet. In December 2024, the Central Bank tightened its approach to handling frozen assets, and six months later, the regulator introduced amendments easing the procedure for approving the list of assets and liabilities for transfer to the SPV balance sheet. The regulator's change in position allowed Sberbank to begin preparing for the spin-off of the frozen assets and liabilities.

Skvortsov said in March that Sberbank has submitted a petition to the Central Bank to transfer blocked assets and liabilities to a separate legal entity. He said the amount involved would be small.