The House Financial Services Committee is slated to vote as early as March 17, 2022, on a slate of bills stepping up economic pressure on Russia in response to its invasion of Ukraine, including a measure aimed at excluding Russian officials from international panels such as the Financial Stability Board (FSB) and International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO). H.R. 6891, the Isolate Russian Government Officials Act of 2022, is sponsored by Rep. Ann Wagner, a Missouri Republican.
Wagner’s bill sets out that it is the policy of the United States to “exclude government officials of the Russian Federation, to the maximum extend practicable, from participation in meetings, proceedings, and other activities” of those groups, as well as the Group of 20 (G20), Bank for International Settlements, Basel Committee for Banking Standards, and International Association of Insurance Supervisors, according to the bill text. The bill instructs the SEC, Secretary of the Treasury, and Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve to take all necessary steps to advance that policy.
The policy would run for five years following enactment, or 30 days after the president deems that Russia “has ceased its destabilizing activities with respect to the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine.”
IOSCO is made up of securities regulators from around the globe. Today, Sergey Shvetsov, first deputy governor of the Bank of Russia, is listed as a board member.
Shvetsov, along with Ksenia Yudaeva – also first deputy governor of the Bank of Russia – and Deputy Minister of Finance Alexey Moiseev, are members of the FSB, a panel that monitors and makes recommendations around international financial stability.
Wagner, in a statement, said that “Vladimir Putin and his cronies have breached the territorial sovereignty of Ukraine and declared war on an innocent people.”
“These grievous violations will not stand, and Russian government officials must be completely and utterly isolated from the world stage during this unjust and unprovoked war,” she said. “The Isolate Russian Governmental Officials Act will ensure Russian officials are excluded from major financial and intergovernmental forums and further restrict Russia’s inclusion in international meetings.”
Also slated for consideration are H.R. 7066, the Russia and Belarus Financial Sanctions Act, which would require U.S. financial institutions to take all “necessary and available” actions to ensure entities they control are in compliance with sanctions; H.R. 6899, the Russia and Belarus SDR Exchange Prohibition Act, seeking to cut Russia and Belarus off from converting International Monetary Fund (IMF) reserve assets known as Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) into currency; the Ukraine Comprehensive Debt Payment Relief Act, directing U.S. officials to push for debt payments relief for Ukraine; and the Nowhere to Hide Oligarchs’ Assets Act, which would expand the geographic scope of the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network’s (FinCEN) Geographic Targeting Order (GTO) authority.
This article originally appeared in the March 16, 2022 edition of Accounting & Compliance Alert, available on Checkpoint.
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