FTSE Russell said on Wednesday it would cut Russian equities from its widely tracked indices, following in the footsteps of MSCI, which said it would remove the “uninvestable” country from its emerging market benchmark.
“Russia will be deleted from all FTSE Russell Equity Indices effective from the open on Monday 7 March 2022,” the index provider said in a statement.
FTSE Russell said it made the move after the escalation of sanctions by the EU, UK and the US on Russia following its invasion of Ukraine.
“The independent advisory committees and other stakeholders were consulted on the treatment of Russia with regard to the escalating sanctions,” FTSE Russell said.
Russia’s decision to temporarily suspend trading on the Moscow Exchange and prohibit non-resident investors from executing security sales was also a factor, it added.
MSCI said its reclassification would be “implemented in one step across all MSCI Indexes, including standard, custom and derived indexes, at a price that is effectively zero” as of March 9.
“MSCI received feedback from a large number of global market participants, including asset owners, asset managers, broker dealers, and exchanges with an overwhelming majority confirming that the Russian equity market is currently uninvestable and that Russian securities should be removed from the MSCI Emerging Markets Indexes,” it added.
- George Russell
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