UBS, Barclays and Deutsche Bank have reportedly resumed the ability for clients to sell their Russian debt holdings.

Several major European banks have followed Wall Street in allowing clients to trade Russian debt once again, the Financial Times reported on Wednesday, citing their sources.

The report highlighted that UBS, Barclays and Deutsche Bank have again allowed clients to sell their Russian debt holdings, in line with similar moves by JPMorgan, Bank of America, Jefferies and Citigroup in the US.

Other European banks, including Credit Suisse and HSBC, have so far refrained from re-entering the Russian debt market due to their lower risk tolerance, people with knowledge of their activities told the FT.

The sources explained that the decisions to restart Russian bond trading had not been motivated by trying to profit from the reopening of the market, but were intended to allow clients to reduce their exposure in accordance with sanctions rules.

“This is mainly for customers who still want to relax,” an anonymous employee of one of the banks that has restarted trading in Russian debt told the outlet. “The volumes are not so remarkable”, he added.

In July, the US Treasury published guidelines allowing US banks to facilitate, clear and settle transactions in Russian securities if it helped US holders gradually unload them.

Before that, most US and European banks had stopped dealing with Russian securities after the Treasury banned transactions in Russian assets as part of economic sanctions on Moscow.

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