Some of the few Russian shares still trading on a global exchange are changing hands at a blistering pace in Hong Kong, but traders say US banks refuse to touch them.
Unlike most big Russian companies, aluminium producer Rusal is not on international sanctions lists. Weekly trading volumes in its shares have shot up by almost 600 per cent in Hong Kong since Russian president Vladimir Putin launched his invasion of Ukraine.
Market participants said US lenders in the city, including Goldman Sachs and Citigroup, are declining to participate in transactions involving the stock, echoing the self-imposed sanctions that have unsettled the global oil market and highlighting the difficulties Russian companies could face in accessing western capital markets even if US and European sanctions are lifted. Both banks declined to comment.