VTB announced the completion of trading in its shares on the London Stock Exchange

The London Stock Exchange will complete trading in VTB securities on its floor, said Dmitry Pyanov, board member of the state bank. The question is

Western sanctions will lead to a halt in trading of global depositary receipts (in fact, an analogue of shares) of VTB on the London Stock Exchange, Dmitry Pyanov, member of the board of the state bank, warned.

“From the point of view of our London Depositary Receipt program on the London Stock Exchange, we clearly know from the examples of other sanctioned companies that there will also be some time limit for the operator of the depositary receipt program to sell securities smoothly. And then this program will be closed, and unsold shares will remain with the depository for a long time. That is, the sanctions regime will naturally close the depository program on the LSE, and this stage in the history of VTB Group will, unfortunately, be completed,” Pyanov said at a briefing.

“This is such an automated procedure, no active actions are required from us. The exchange and the depository bank will complete everything themselves,” he said.

VTB shares are traded simultaneously on both the Moscow and the London Stock Exchange (on it in the form of receipts). In recent days, they have declined dramatically (on Thursday, February 24, by 42%) against the backdrop of Russia's operation in Ukraine and the inclusion of VTB in the sanctions list. In Moscow, as of 17:20 Moscow time, they cost about 2 kopecks. compared to 5 kopecks. after the January holidays and 4.3 kopecks. in the middle of February. On the London Stock Exchange, shares are traded at $0.8 against $1.3 in January and $1.2 in mid-February.

American sanctions against VTB imply inclusion in the SDN list, that is, the blocking of all assets and accounts of credit organizations in US dollars and the actual isolation from the DOLLAR system. The UK sanctions are also the freezing of assets and the virtual exclusion of VTB from the British financial system.