Euroclear earned €1.47 billion from frozen Russian assets, sees first profit decline
The Belgian financial institution Euroclear received 1.47 billion euros in interest income from Russian assets frozen since the start of the full-scale war in Ukraine in the first quarter of 2025. This was reported by the Euroclear press service.
Interest income from frozen Russian assets for the first quarter of 2025 fell by 7.5% compared to the same period last year.
In accordance with the requirements of the EU regulation on contingent contributions, which entered into force in May 2024, Euroclear formed a reserve of EUR 944 million in the first quarter of 2025.
Russian sanctions and countermeasures resulted in direct costs of €22 million and a loss of business income of €9 million.
Interest income related to taxable Russian assets brought Belgium 360 million euros in tax revenue.
As of the end of March 2025, Euroclear Bank's balance sheet amounted to 230 billion euros, of which 195 billion euros accounted for Russian assets under sanctions.
Euroclear reinvests its remaining cash in low-risk financial instruments. As a result of such investments, in the first quarter of 2025, the company earned about 1.5 billion euros from the reinvestment of interest on frozen Russian funds.
According to the European Commission regulation adopted in May 2024, profits received from the reinvestment of frozen Russian assets should be transferred to the European Fund for Ukraine.
Euroclear keeps 10% of this profit to cover its own risks and capital requirements. Euroclear has already transferred about 3.5 billion euros to the European Fund for Ukraine by 2024.
- On February 4, 2025, the head of European diplomacy, Kaia Kallas, stated that European allies should "creatively" use Russian frozen assets to help Ukraine.
- On February 7, it was reported that Russia was preparing a law on the confiscation of foreign assets in response to the freezing of its own.
- President Volodymyr Zelensky believes that Russia's assets should be seized while there is still an opportunity.
- On May 2, Reuters wrote that the EU plans to transfer 3 billion euros of frozen Russian assets to Western investors.
