{"id":248105,"date":"2025-07-08T13:35:09","date_gmt":"2025-07-08T13:35:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/248105\/"},"modified":"2025-07-08T13:35:09","modified_gmt":"2025-07-08T13:35:09","slug":"russians-set-record-for-transfers-to-foreign-brokers-amid-market-uncertainty","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/248105\/","title":{"rendered":"Russians Set Record for Transfers to Foreign Brokers Amid Market Uncertainty"},"content":{"rendered":"

Russian households sent a record 52.3 billion rubles \u2014 nearly $650 million \u2014 to foreign brokers in May, the Central Bank said<\/a> Monday, highlighting the growing flight of capital from the country\u2019s increasingly isolated and risk-laden financial markets.<\/p>\n

The figure surpasses the previous high of 45.2 billion rubles ($580 million) recorded in December 2023 and even the 42.1 billion rubles ($540 million) moved abroad in October 2022, the first month after the Kremlin\u2019s \u201cpartial\u201d military mobilization.<\/p>\n

Before Russia\u2019s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, retail investors typically held international stocks through domestic platforms like the St. Petersburg Exchange, which has traded foreign securities since 2014, and the Moscow Exchange, which launched such offerings in 2020.<\/p>\n

But sweeping sanctions, mounting capital controls and state intervention in the private sector have driven investors to seek security outside Russia.<\/p>\n

According to Central Bank data, Russians sent 226 billion rubles ($2.9 billion) to overseas brokers in 2024, a 58% increase from the previous year. Another 141 billion rubles ($1.8 billion) has already been transferred in the first five months of 2025.<\/p>\n

Much of this shift stems from Western sanctions on Russia\u2019s National Settlement Depository, which led to the freezing of around 5.7 trillion rubles ($73 billion) in assets, roughly one-fifth<\/a> of which belongs to private investors.<\/p>\n

In response, the Central Bank has severely restricted Russian citizens\u2019 ability\u00a0to buy securities from \u201cunfriendly\u201d countries and, as of this year, nearly all foreign issuers not part of<\/a> the Eurasian Economic Union.<\/p>\n

Despite the Central Bank\u2019s repeated warnings<\/a> about the risks of holding money with foreign financial institutions, including potential asset freezes and limited recourse for disputes, capital continues to flow outward.<\/p>\n

Some brokers abroad remain wary of working with Russian clients, but the demand to invest outside the country persists.<\/p>\n

These developments come amid rising concern over political and legal risks in the Russian market, with nationalization in particular becoming a growing fear among investors following several high-profile asset seizures.<\/p>\n

In one such case last year, a court ordered<\/a> the confiscation of shares in the Solikamsk Magnesium Plant held by 2,000 retail investors and transferred them to state ownership.<\/p>\n

Central Bank Governor Elvira Nabiullina acknowledged<\/a> the move was \u201ca concern,\u201d but said the regulator had no legal tools to intervene.<\/p>\n

The nationalization of Yuzhuralzoloto, Russia\u2019s third-largest gold mining company, is currently underway after the Prosecutor General\u2019s Office opened a criminal case into industrial and environmental violations.<\/p>\n

Owned by billionaire Konstantin Strukov, Yuzhuralzoloto saw its shares plummet<\/a> by 35% and its bond yields spike from 24% to 30% following the announcement.<\/p>\n

Trading in the company’s stock has since been suspended<\/a> by the Moscow Exchange at the Central Bank\u2019s request and short selling of its bonds has been banned. The securities are held<\/a> by an estimated 220,000 retail investors, a blow to confidence in the local market.<\/p>\n

The Central Bank has expressed longstanding concern over Russian investors\u2019 interest in foreign brokers, warning<\/a> of the potential for a \u201csignificant outflow of domestic money into global financial institutions.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to the bank, developing trust in the domestic market is essential to prevent this outflow of cash. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Russian households sent a record 52.3 billion rubles \u2014 nearly $650 million \u2014 to foreign brokers in May,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":248106,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3091],"tags":[51,12810,1700,2441,977,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-248105","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-markets","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-central-bank","10":"tag-economy","11":"tag-markets","12":"tag-stock-market","13":"tag-uk","14":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114817881506914711","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/248105","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=248105"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/248105\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/248106"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=248105"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=248105"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=248105"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}