Frozen Russian assets generate €5 billion, Euroclear to support Ukraine

Euroclear earned €5 billion in interest from frozen Russian assets in 2025, a portion of which will support Ukraine, as global investors increasingly shift funds into European markets amid uncertainty in the US, Euroclear CEO Valérie Urbain said.

“As far as the clients are concerned — including from China, from the Middle East, from the Asia-Pacific — we’ve seen throughout 2025 a growing diversification of investment away from the US,” Urbain told Bloomberg in an interview. “There’s a growing interest in diversifying investment portfolios” into European assets, she added.

Trump’s tariff policies and trade rhetoric have raised costs and uncertainty for multinational companies, making the US a less attractive destination for some investors. Concerns over potential unwarranted rate cuts, which could stoke inflation and weaken the dollar, have also contributed to the trend.

Danish pension fund AkademikerPension illustrates this “Sell America” approach. When Trump threatened to seize Greenland, the fund divested its $100 million in US Treasury holdings, citing the US as a credit risk.

Brussels-based Euroclear, a leading clearing house, reported a net profit of approximately €1.11 billion ($1.3 billion) in 2025, up from €1.04 billion in 2024. Assets under custody exceeded €43 trillion at the end of 2025, marking a 7% increase year-on-year.

Urbain’s remarks follow European Union efforts to tap Russian sovereign assets immobilized in Euroclear to fund aid for Ukraine. After Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, the Group of Seven nations, the EU, and Australia froze roughly $280 billion in Russian central bank assets, the majority of which are held in Euroclear.

Interest earned from these frozen Russian assets totaled €5 billion in 2025, down 26% from 2024. Euroclear has earmarked €3.3 billion as a windfall contribution to support Ukraine.

Urbain also highlighted the broader implications of Trump’s policies for financial markets, describing his tenure as a “wake-up call” for Europe and beyond.

By Vafa Guliyeva