One of the largest Swiss banks Julius Baer began freezing the investment accounts of its Russian and Belarusian clients at the request of the central securities depository Euroclear, Forbes Russia reported on May 23 with a confirmation from the bank.
Euroclear, a Belgium-based financial company that provides depository services, submitted the request to the bank in order to comply with the sanctions against Russia and Belarus.
Julius Baer moved to freeze all operations related to Russian and Belarusian investment accounts and isolate them from other assets of the affected clients.
"Euroclear requires that the securities held at Euroclear and the cash received from these securities be allocated to special accounts at Euroclear," the bank informed the clients in question.
The measures will not affect investment accounts with depositories other than Euroclear.
They will also not affect clients with a residence permit or citizenship in the EU, European Economic Area, or Switzerland.
Switzerland has imposed a number of sanctions against Russia, modeling them after the EU.
However, G7 has rebuked the Alpine country for not doing enough to eliminate loopholes through which Russian citizens avoid sanctions.
Switzerland denied the accusation, freezing $8.3 billion worth of Russian assets in April.
