On 31/07/2024, Anton Minakov, together with his client, Russian private investor whose securities were blocked in Euroclear after the imposition of sanctions against the Russian National Settlement Depository (the NSD), took part in the procedure for identifying the applicant by Belgian Treasury employees. The meeting was held remotely, using Teams software.
The applicant identification procedure is a novelty adopted by the Belgian authorities due to the need to structure the increasing number of requests related to the unblocking of assets held in the accounts of Russian brokers in the central European depository Euroclear, registered in Belgium.
Since June 2024, the e-mail application mechanism has been canceled, and all new applicants have become required to complete the registration procedure in the ForReg (Foreign Registration) system. ForReg is a new platform created to facilitate access to the services of the Belgian Treasury by foreign citizens. Verification of the applicant includes, inter alia, a video conference with an employee of the Treasury.
After successful completion, the applicant receives an email with detailed instructions on the further application procedure. It is worth noting that, in the case of L&P client, about 2 weeks passed from the moment of the first request to the appointment of the conference, which is a rather short period.
