Euroclear

2025

The Bank of Russia filed a lawsuit against Euroclear for 18.2 trillion rubles with the Moscow Arbitration Court due to the decision of the European Commission to seize frozen assets of the Russian Federation

In December 2025, it was announced that the Bank of Russia was filing a lawsuit against Euroclear, the depository holding Russian assets , in the Moscow Arbitration Court .

The amount of the claim amounted to 18.2 trillion rubles ($229 billion). The amount requested in the Moscow Arbitration Court is equal to the total amount of frozen assets, as well as additional lost income, the regulator told Russian agencies.

The regulator called illegal the decision of the European Commission to seize the frozen assets of the Russian Federation.

EU authorities plan to transfer Russian reserves to Ukraine after repaying their government bonds from its assets to Euroclear

Frozen in Euroclear, Russian assets, as of November 2025, mainly consist of government bonds of the EU countries.

Freezing such assets de facto means that the Russian Federation remains the owner of bonds, but cannot do anything with them: neither sell, nor receive interest, nor withdraw funds after repayment. And the income from them accumulates in the accounts of Euroclear Bank.

There are also other types of frozen assets owned by individuals and entities. However, they are relatively successfully taken out without unnecessary fuss.

A significant part of the bonds (they make up the bulk of frozen assets) has a maturity of 2026-2032.

In the usual situation, the money received from repayment would simply go to Russia, however, due to blocking, they will "settle" on the balance sheet of Euroclear Bank in anticipation of further fate.

If in bonds the ownership is clearly spelled out, then with the income from their repayment there are more opportunities for manipulation. At least these tens of billions of euros can be pledged on loan and used interest from them to help Ukraine.

In December 2025, the Belgian parliament met with applause the refusal of Prime Minister Bart de Wever to seize frozen Russian assets and transfer them to the European Commission:

"Fundamentally, this proposal cannot count on the support of our government and our country. We declare that we will always choose peace, freedom and democracy. And we are ready to make sacrifices for this, but the impossible should not be demanded of our country. This is the government's position and I hope for the support of the whole parliament. Thank you».

In his speech, he named three conditions under which frozen assets can be seized in favor of Ukraine.

1. All risks, including fines for "illegal expropriation," should be distributed among all EU countries, and not lie only with Belgium.

2. The Euroclear depository must have guaranteed liquidity to compensate for damage from possible Russian countermeasures.

3. Expenses must be borne in equal shares by all EU member states in whose territory the assets are located.

Recovery of ₽1,5 billion in favor of Rosselkhozbank

The Moscow Arbitration Court recovered ₽1,5 billion losses from the international settlement depository Euroclear Bank S.A./N.V. in favor of Rosselkhozbank. The court decision was made following the consideration of a dispute related to frozen payments on bonds of foreign issuers in the accounts of the National Settlement Depository in June 2025.

According to Business Approach, the court partially satisfied the claims of the Russian agricultural bank against the European depository. The decision includes compensation for losses and partial compensation for lost profits calculated at the exchange rate of the Bank of Russia at the date of actual payment.

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Фото: PYMNTS

The structure of the recovered funds includes losses of $9,296,278, €5,997,176 and CHF 920,942. Lost profits amounted to $641.283, €275.485, ₽20,978,660 and 18.456 Swiss francs. The total amount of recovery in terms of Russian currency reached ₽1,5 billion.

The basis for court claims was payments on bonds of foreign issuers, which were received by Rosselkhozbank, but were blocked by Euroclear in the accounts of the National Settlement Depository. The freezing of funds occurred within the framework of sanctions restrictions against Russian financial institutions.

The trial took place in several stages. The Moscow Arbitration Court issued an initial decision on March 29, 2024, deciding to compensate for the losses incurred. The appellate instance on July 11, 2024 left the decision unchanged, confirming the legality of the requirements of the Russian bank.

Euroclear has significant assets in Russia that can be used to pay fines. Among them are funds in accounts in Russian banks that are intended for settlements on securities, as well as property assets and frozen payments on Russian public debt (part of the money that Russia was supposed to pay on Eurobonds in foreign currency was blocked due to sanctions).^[1]

Criminal Code "First" recovered ₽14,5 billion from Euroclear for blocking income on securities

The management company The first"" has recovered ₽14,5 billion from the Belgian Euroclear Bank for blocking income on foreign securities. The arbitration court Moscow partially satisfied the company's claim on June 23, 2025.

According to the Business News Agency, the trial lasted more than a year. The court decided to recover from Euroclear about €20 million, $161 million, as well as amounts in other currencies transferred to rubles at the exchange rate Central Bank Russia on the day of payment. Euroclear has assets in Russia (money in accounts, securities balances) that can be used to pay fines on decisions of Russian courts

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Фото: Frobes

Criminal Code "First" managed foreign securities through Russian depositories associated with the National Settlement Depository. NSD's Euroclear accounts were blocked in June 2022 due to EU sanctions.

The plaintiff argued that due to the blocking, he did not receive income from securities, including dividends and coupon payments. The company also suffered losses from the inability to reinvest funds.

In terms of claims regarding lost profit and lost remuneration, the court refused the plaintiff. The judge found these claims insufficiently justified. Criminal Code "First" demanded to recover $23.2 million of lost income from reinvestment of income on securities.

The company claimed that Euroclear for 2022-2023 and the third quarter of 2024 generated interest income through reinvestment of cash balances. It was about blocked coupon income and the amount of repayments to be paid to sanctioned persons.

The court did not have enough evidence to satisfy this claim. Euroclear objected to the lawsuit, citing the legitimacy of the sanctions and the possibility of obtaining a license to unblock assets through the Belgian Ministry of Finance.

The arbitration court rejected the defendant's arguments. The judge pointed out that the sanctions violate the public order of Russia, and it is unreasonable to demand additional actions from the plaintiff to protect rights.^[2]

2024

Receiving €6.9 billion percent of blocked Russian assets

Euroclear in 2024 received €6.9 billion in interest revenue from blocked Russian assets, net profit amounted to €1 billion. This is evidenced by the data of the company's financial report for 2024, released in February 2025. At the end of 2024, Euroclear stored frozen Russian assets worth €183 billion (about 18 trillion rubles at the Central Bank exchange rate as of February 5, 2025). The depository noted that in the future, the proceeds from their investment may decrease due to lower interest rates.^[3]

The court recovered in favor of Zenit Bank $73.6 million from Euroclear and 20 million rubles from Clearstream

In June 2024, the Moscow Arbitration Court ruled in favor of Zenit Bank, deciding to recover $73.6 million and 20 million rubles from Clearstream Banking from Euroclear Bank. This decision is due to the losses that Zenit Bank incurred due to blocked payments of coupon income and the face value of bonds. Read more here.

The court recovered 1.8 billion rubles from Euroclear in favor of Transcapitalbank

On June 10, 2024, the Moscow Arbitration Court partially satisfied the claim of Transcapitalbank (TKB) against Euroclear Bank, deciding to pay more than 1.8 billion rubles (about $20.3 million) and 9.572 million rubles (about €99 thousand) in losses. According to RIA Novosti, this decision was an important step in a long-term dispute related to the blocked assets of Russian clients in European depositories.

According to the newspaper, TKB, one of the largest Russian banks, owns securities placed in the accounts of the National Settlement Depository (NSD) in Euroclear Bank. In June 2022, the European Union imposed restrictions against NSD as part of the sixth package of sanctions, which led to the blocking of funds and securities of Russian clients in Euroclear and Clearstream.

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Фото: Freepik

According to representatives of the TKB, since March 2022, the bank has not received payments on its securities due to sanctions, which was the reason for filing a lawsuit in December 2022. Euroclear Bank, in turn, did not recognize the claim and tried to terminate the proceedings, arguing that the Russian court does not have the competence to consider it. However, the court denied this request and continued the case.

As noted by a financial market analyst, the court's decision in favor of TKB may become a precedent for other Russian companies and banks affected by asset blocking. To date, the total amount of claims in the Russian arbitration against Euroclear and Clearstream exceeds 700 billion rubles. In August 2023, this figure was more than 200 billion rubles.

Earlier, St. Petersburg Bank also won the case against Euroclear, having received a decision to pay $107.1 million and €489 thousand. This case was the first successful lawsuit of Russian companies against European depositories.^[4]

Euroclear earned more than 5 billion euros on blocked Russian assets in two years

From the 2 quarter of 2022 to the first quarter 2024 Euroclear earned more than 5 billion euros on blocked Russian assets

Income from frozen Russian assets in the Euroclear depository since the beginning of 2024 amounted to €1.6 billion, Echo said in early May 2024.

The IMF warns against violations in connection with the possible use of Russian assets to help Ukraine. First Deputy Managing Director of the IMF Gita Gopinat, speaking about the West's desire to use the assets of the Russian Federation in Ukraine, reminded states of the need to follow legal norms and guarantee sufficient legal justification for any of their actions.

2023

Euroclear earned €4.4 billion in 2023 on frozen Russian assets

The Euroclear financial group earned €4.4 billion in 2023 from Russian assets that were frozen in the central depository due to EU sanctions . This is about 80% of all interest income of the financial group for the entire year.

The net interest income of the financial group in 2023 increased by 70% - to €5.5 billion in 2023 compared to €1.17 billion in 2022.

Euroclear continues to separate revenues related to sanctions against Russia from underlying financial results and hold those revenues until further guidance on the distribution or management of those revenues is provided.

Blocking assets in Russia for 217.4 billion rubles

The volume of assets of European depositories Euroclear and Clearstream blocked in Russia amounted to 229.1 billion rubles, follows from the reports of Euroclear and Deutsche Borse Group (which includes the Clearstream depository) for 2022. The documents were released in June 2023.

The volume of blocked assets of Euroclear and Clearstream amounted to 229.1 billion rubles

As Vedomosti writes with reference to the materials of the Belgian Euroclear, by the end of 2022, 188.5 billion and 28.9 billion rubles were blocked in rubles on accounts of type "C" and "I," respectively. Accounts "C" are intended for transactions for the purchase and sale of foreign currency by non-residents, transactions with securities and investments in the Russian economy. And accounts are used to credit money intended for payments to holders of Russian Eurobonds, the rights to which are accounted for in foreign infrastructure. The money coming into these accounts is blocked. In the report, Clearstream named the total amount of funds blocked in Russia - €134.1 million (about 11.7 billion rubles).

Euroclear and Clearstream froze Russian assets due to sanctions in 2022.

In December 2022, the National Settlement Depository received permission to unblock foreign assets from the Ministry of Finance Luxembourg and the Treasury. At Belgium CENTRAL BANK that time, they said that the permission of the European authorities to unblock assets did not guarantee their return to investors. In May, the head of the Central Bank of Russia Elvira Nabiullina stated that investors returned assets from abroad by about 3 trillion rubles.

In June 2023, it was reported that Russians were preparing a class action lawsuit against European depositories Euroclear and Clearstream to unblock assets abroad. Russian investors expect to get their funds back by collecting the assets of foreigners who invested in the country's securities. This money was mirror blocked in the national settlement depository (NSD) in response to Western sanctions.^[5]

Closing the ruble account in Moscow and the first ever forced conversion of ruble balances of customers

In February 2023, it was announced that Euroclear would forcibly convert the ruble balances of customers. This is the first case of forced conversion by European depositories. Euroclear stopped accepting the ruble as a settlement currency and closed its correspondent account in Moscow (at ING Bank).

2022

Interest income from frozen assets of Russians amounted to 821 million euros

Interest income from investment of Russian assets blocked in Euroclear in 2022 amounted to 821 million euros. According to the results of the first half of the year, this figure was 110 million euros.

Interest income is expected to continue to rise in 2023 as blocked payments and repayments continue to accumulate, albeit at a slower pace.

Frozen assets of Russians brought the company a third of the profit for 9 months

Revenues from frozen assets of Russians provided a third of Euroclear's profits, frozen assets of Russian investors had an "unprecedented" impact on financial results, Euroclear noted.

For 9 months of 2022, the holding earned €340 million from them, and in the future this amount will continue to grow, the company believes, "since blocked payments and repayments continue to accumulate amid rising interest rates."

Euroclear keeps records of securities of Russians, it also receives income paid on these securities (coupons, dividends, repayments). Due to EU sanctions on NSD, which is part of the payment transfer chain, these revenues cannot be transferred to Russian investors, so they are stored in the accounts of Euroclear, which, according to its business strategy, continues to invest them.

Excess profits from storing more than 70 billion euros of payments on frozen due to the rupture of the depository bridge with Russia assets

European depository Euroclear received 110 million euros of income from storing more than 70 billion euros of payments on frozen assets due to the rupture of the depository bridge with Russia. Euroclear's balance sheet has grown more than 3.5 times in six months.

Sanctions blocked 23 billion euros of dividends of Russian investors

In Euroclear, due to EU sanctions, against the background of Russia's special operation in Ukraine, 23 billion euros of coupons and dividends of Russian investors have accumulated. Euroclear's balance sheet for the first quarter of 2022 grew by 23.4 billion euros on an annualized basis, or 80%. Due to the fact that the depository bridge between Euroclear and other Russian depositories, in particular with the National Settlement Depository (NSD), has been destroyed due to sanctions, coupons and dividends intended for Russian investors and vice versa have been accumulated on Euroclear's balance sheet since February 28.

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