International depository Euroclear reported a significant rise in profits for 2023, largely driven by €4.4 billion earned from frozen Russian assets. This contributed to a total income of €5.5 billion, compared to €1.17 billion in 2022.
However, the organization also highlighted the complexities arising from the “unprecedented” number of sanctions and counter-sanctions implemented since February 2022. While the pace of new sanctions slowed down in 2023, they continued to disrupt daily operations, causing “further disruption to the end-to-end process and increased manual intervention,” according to their report.
Euroclear emphasized the substantial effort required to manage both the extensive sanctions package and Russia’s countermeasures. They are dedicating significant resources to address these challenges and maintain open communication with clients and stakeholders.
The report further detailed additional costs incurred by Euroclear due to sanctions management, amounting to €62 million in 2023. International sanctions and Russian countermeasures also resulted in a loss of business from sanctioned clients and Russian securities, negatively impacting their income by €24 million.
