JPMorgan processed Russia bond payments, sent money to Citi
BNN Bloomberg
JPMorgan Chase has reportedly processed funds that were earmarked for interest payments due on U.S. dollar bonds issued by Russia and sent the money on to Citi as bondholders waited for a second day to receive the US$117M
JPMorgan Chase & Co. has processed funds that were earmarked for interest payments due on dollar bonds issued by the Russian government and sent the money on to Citigroup Inc. as bondholders waited for a second day to receive the US$117 million, according to people familiar with the matter.
JPMorgan was the correspondent bank Russia used to send the payment to Citigroup, which is acting as payment agent on the bonds, the people said, asking not to be identified discussing a private matter. JPMorgan sent the money to Citigroup after it sought and received the required approvals from U.S. authorities on Wednesday, one of the people said.
Representatives for JPMorgan and Citigroup declined to comment.
European bondholders of Russia’s sovereign debt had received no sign of the funds as of late Thursday, and S&P Global Ratings warned that the “technical difficulties” in getting the money to investors was increasing the risk of a default -- either this time around or in the future.
Russian officials have said if the payment in dollars is blocked, then it would instead send it in rubles. Russia has a 30-day grace period to meet the payment obligations.
“If funds are not accessible for investors or if a payment is made in a currency not stipulated in the terms of the obligation and we believe that the investor does not agree to the alternative payment, we could deem this a default,” S&P analysts said in a statement, downgrading Russia’s foreign-currency rating to CC from CCC-.
Manufacturing sales fell 2.1 per cent to $69.9 billion in March as sales of petroleum and coal products and motor vehicles fell, Statistics Canada said Wednesday. Olivia Cross, North America economist at Capital Economics, said the result was not as bad as the early estimate that pointed to a drop of 2.8 per cent, but it still means sales fell 0.9 per cent over the first quarter. "The weakness of manufacturing sales in March suggests that the economy lost momentum heading into the second quarter, matching the message from the earlier preliminary estimates for retail sales and GDP," Cross said in a note. Last month, Statistics Canada released a pair of preliminary estimates for real gross domestic product and retail sales for March that both suggested the data points were essentially unchanged for the month. Driving the manufacturing sales numbers for March was an 8.0 per cent drop in sales of petroleum and coal products to $8.0 billion as volumes fell 6.1 per cent. Sales of motor vehicles fell 7.9 per cent to $4.6 billion in March as sales of motor vehicle parts lost 2.8 per cent. Statistics Canada says retoolings at several major auto assembly plants in Ontario continued to impact auto manufacturing and contributed to the lower sales for the month. Meanwhile, sales of machinery rose 2.9 per cent to $4.5 billion in March. The increase came as sales in all seven machinery industry groups climbed higher, led by commercial and service industry machinery which gained 41.6 per cent. Overall manufacturing sales in constant dollars fell 2.0 per cent in March. Total inventories for the month were largely unchanged at $121.0 billion in March, while unfilled orders fell 0.8 per cent to $104.8 billion. This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 15, 2024.