Russia’s central bank cracks down harder on money going overseas as sanctions trigger rush for the exit

• Russia’s central bank banned money transfers by people or companies in countries that sanctioned Moscow for the Ukraine invasion. 
• And any non-Russians, regardless of their country, cannot take out more than $5,000 per month, according to a local media report.
• The central bank also announced that foreigners would not be able to collect bond coupon payments on Russian debt. 

Russia’s central bank has imposed limits on the ability of foreigners to move money out of the country and banned coupon payments to overseas holders of Russian bonds. 

For individuals or companies that are based in countries that placed sanctions on Russia, money transfers have been banned until March 31, the Russian news outlet Vedomosti reported Wednesday. 

Also, non-Russians cannot transfer more than $5,000 per month out of the country, no matter what country they’re from, the report said. 

Meanwhile, non-Russian owners of ruble bonds are not allowed to collect payments. Foreign investors were previously blocked from unloading the $29 billion in debt they held.

Bond holders already face the risk of a haircut. An international banking lobby warned Monday that a default of Russian debt is “extremely likely” if the Ukraine crisis continues to escalate.

The central bank didn’t say Wednesday how long the bond-payment ban will last, but said it’s intended to “avoid mass sales of Russian securities, the withdrawal of funds from the Russian financial market and to support financial stability,” according to Bloomberg. 

The capital controls are the latest moves to combat a rush to exit the country after Western countries imposed economic sanctions in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Over the past week, Western nations have frozen more than half of Russia’s foreign reserves. The Bank of Russia declared, in turn, that Western countries could not exit investments in the country. The central bank also instructed brokers to not execute sell orders of Russian stocks from foreign investors. Russia’s stock market has been closed all week too.

Still, a wave of US and other foreign companies have said they are ending partnerships in Russia, halting business operations there or suspending product sales. And major fund managers have frozen at least $3 billion in assets exposed to Russia.