In Ireland were liquidated popular Russian funds FinEx

The liquidators of two investment companies FinEx Funds ICAV and FinEx Physically Backed Funds ICAV reported on the liquidation of 17 FinEx funds, follows from the notices of the organizations. The money from the sale of the assets was transferred to the trust of Teneo Asset Solutions Limited (TAS) until the funds can be distributed among shareholders.

However, for FinEx investment units, which were blocked in 2022 and had the National Settlement Depository as a place of storage (NSD, part of the Mosbirzhi group), payments will not be made yet. In other words, Russian investors will not be able to receive frozen funds. To do this, liquidator investment companies need to obtain all the necessary sanctions approvals, licenses and permits.

What Happened to FinEx Funds

FinEx ETF funds were traded on the Moscow Exchange from 2013 to 2022. The termination of trading in instruments was caused by the inoperability of the intermarket depository infrastructure: the so-called NSD-Euroclear bridge.

In March 2022, international depositories Euroclear and Clearstream suspended operations with NSD, as a result of which the securities of Russian investors were blocked, and payments on them stopped coming to them. In early June, the European Union imposed sanctions against NSD, where most Russian brokers kept shares of FinEx funds.

However, the liquidators reported that they had already submitted an application to the High Court of Ireland with a request to issue instructions allowing them to apply to the Central Bank of Ireland for permission to pay funds to shareholders. However, the deadline for obtaining such permission and starting payments is not specified in the document.

Experts interviewed by RBC Investments agreed that the process will largely depend on the liquidators themselves, the High Court of Ireland, as well as foreign regulators.

Read more about the conditions under which payments can be arranged, what to do to Russian investors right now and what can prevent the payment of frozen funds - read the full version of the material on subscription to RBC.