MOSCOW, November 8. /TASS/. The Bank of Russia always warned about the risk of holding foreign securities, Governor Elvira Nabiullina told reporters at the Finopolis 2023 forum.

"Russian investors managed to get rid of foreign securities amounting to about $4 bln through trading. That is, the risk was reduced by this amount. We have always warned that keeping foreign securities carries certain risks, and therefore unqualified investors were actually barred from buying foreign securities. It was allowed for qualified investors only and the assets of these qualified investors were the ones that were primarily frozen," Nabiullina said.

According to estimates from the Central Bank, about 80% of the total amount of foreign securities of the SPB Exchange are held by qualified investors, she noted. "Nevertheless, this is a real problem now. The exchange is analyzing the situation, considering steps that can be taken here," Nabiullina added.

On November 2, the US Treasury Department included the SPB Exchange on its sanctions list. The trading platform decided to suspend trading in foreign shares after the move.