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JPMorgan, which ran Sberbank's overseas depositary programme from 2011 to 2022, has reported the final sale of the shares in the Russian state bank that underpinned its American depositary receipts (ADRs). The disclosure appeared on JPMorgan's website and was first noted by RBC.

The sale was made at a 70 % discount to the 13 March 2026 closing price of 316.65 rubles (about $4) a share, as required under Russian rules, JPMorgan said. The relevant government subcommission, which vets disposals of Russian assets by foreign investors, authorises such sales only where they are made at a discount of at least 60 %.

The US bank said it had not itself paid the "exit tax" required under the subcommission's rules. That budget levy on non-resident transactions amounts to 35 % of the market value of the asset being sold. However it is usually borne by the Russian buyer.

JPMorgan did not disclose the size of the stake sold. The shares went to a "non-sanctioned" buyer, and a license was obtained from the US Office of Foreign Assets Control for the transaction, the bank said.

In 2011 Sberbank was permitted to place up to 25 % of its ordinary shares abroad in the form of depositary receipts, with JPMorgan acting as depositary. The US bank ended its involvement in the programme in 2022 following sanctions on the Russian financial sector. A dedicated Russian law subsequently required such receipts to be converted into locally traded shares. It is not known what proportion of Sberbank's receipts ended up in the hands of Russian investors.

Elvira Nabiullina, the Bank of Russia governor, told a press conference on 19 June that the deals had been conducted outside Russia's domestic market infrastructure.

"As for the potential overhang on the market, those Russian securities that are brought into Russian circuits from abroad, and in whose ownership chains there are investors from unfriendly countries, are subject to separate accounting. Transactions in them require authorisation. And if a depositary has breached the separate-accounting requirements — including by crediting such securities to trading accounts — then we can hold it liable," she said.