British banks oppose handing $10.6 billion of frozen Russian assets to Ukraine, FT reports
Photo: British Prime Minister Keir Starmer (Getty Images)
British banks are opposed to transferring £8 billion ($10.6 billion) of frozen Russian assets to Ukraine, citing the lack of guarantees for compensation in case of any Russian counteractions, the Financial Times reports.
British bankers have expressed concerns that the country’s financial institutions could face "significant legal risk." They emphasized that they are worried "about the legality."
"The government is setting a new precedent because they have never seized assets in this type of way. The legal risk is that if Ukraine doesn’t pay back, you need to repossess an asset that the government says is yours but Russia says isn’t," a source told the outlet.
The FT notes that the British banks holding Russian assets are "closely held secret," and bankers refuse to disclose whether they are involved.
Earlier, The Times reported that the UK government announced its readiness to transfer $10.6 billion of Russian assets to support Ukraine.
British ministers warned that Russian leader Vladimir Putin poses an active threat to the citizens, security, and prosperity of the United Kingdom.
The European Commission recently proposed providing Ukraine with a reparations loan of €140 billion, expected to be secured using Russian assets frozen by the EU following the full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
However, for Kyiv to receive such a reparations loan, all EU member states must agree. The initiative is currently blocked by Belgium, which holds the largest share of frozen assets.
