Russian Central Bank voids Standard & Poor’s, Moody’s, Fitch ratings

What happens when a nation in retaliation refuses to recognize a universally accepted standard ratings agency? Stay tuned. Pandora’s box has been opened on yet another front. Full-blown economic warfare is in full motion.

 

The Central Bank of Russia will no longer use credit ratings from Standard & Poor’s, Fitch, or Moody’s that were assigned after March 1, 2014.

All credit ratings given to Russian companies and banks will now be at the discretion of the Board of Directors of the Bank, according to a press statement Monday. The regulator will assess whether or not the ratings made after March are accurate.

“According to the Bank of Russia Board of Directors’ decision, the rating date for credit institutions and their issued financial instruments, including securities, to implement Bank of Russia regulations, shall be 1 March 2014; as for other entities, listed in the ordinance, and their issued securities, this rating date shall be 1 December 2014,” the press release said.

Russia faces ‘perfect storm’ as reserves vanish and derivatives flash default warnings

BNP Paribas says Russia no longer has enough reserves to cover external debt and enters this crisis ‘twice as levered’ as it was before the Lehman crash

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Central bank data show that a blitz of currency intervention depleted reserves by $26bn in the two weeks to December 26, the fastest pace of erosion since the crisis in Ukraine erupted early last year.

Credit defaults swaps (CDS) measuring bankruptcy risk for Russia spiked violently on Tuesday, surging by 100 basis points to 630, before falling back slightly.

Markit says this implies a 32pc expectation of a sovereign default over the next five years, the highest since Western sanctions and crumbling oil prices combined to cripple the Russian economy.

U.S. Sanctions Push Putin Toward His Dream of A New Financial System

Although Monday’s sanctions will hurt Russia in the short term, they will also force Putin to step up his efforts to weaken U.S. influence over the global economy, which so far has been “little more than wishful thinking because of the difficult reforms it would require”

A little over a year ago, in early March 2013, the Russian state energy czar Igor Sechin made his American debut at an oil summit in Houston, Texas, reportedly accompanied by armed guards equipped with a K-9 unit. The speech he gave that day at the СERAWeek conference, an annual gathering of energy titans from around the world, was part of a pit stop for Sechin. He was on his way to a more high profile event, the funeral of his old friend Hugo Chavez, the truculently anti-American President of oil-rich Venezuela. But since he was passing through the Western hemisphere anyway, Sechin clearly felt it was worthwhile to court some American investors. “I call for us to work together,” he told the audience that day, according to Russia’s Vedomosti daily, “to drive our business for mutual benefit.”

Russia and China dig a channel vying with the Panama Canal

China and Russia arе embarking on a big geopolitical and economic venture of laying in Nicaragua a rival to the USA brainchild, the Panama Canal.

This was disclosed to the “Voice of Russia” by Petr Yakovlev, the head of the Center for Iberian Studies, Institute of Latin America, Russian Academy of Sciences. The expert said that Russian companies are holding talks with Chinese partners on how to participate in this strategic project in Latin America.

The start of the construction is planned for December 2014. Longer time slots had been proposed earlier. It is possible that adjustments have been made ​​following the probable participation of Russian companies in the project. Given the confidentiality of negotiations, Peter Yakovlev did not reveal the names of the Russian companies participating in them.

Russian companies withdraw billions from west, say Moscow bankers

Russian companies are pulling billions out of western banks, fearful that any US sanctions over the Crimean crisis could lead to an asset freeze, according to bankers in Moscow.

Sberbank and VTB, Russia’s giant partly state-owned banks, as well as industrial companies, such as energy group Lukoil, are among those repatriating cash from western lenders with operations in the US. VTB has also cancelled a planned US investor summit next month, according to bankers.

‘No Losses’ in Cyprus – Russia

MOSCOW, April 17 (RIA Novosti) – Russian state-controlled and private companies have not sustained any losses due to the financial crisis in Cyprus, Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said on Wednesday.

That refers to all “state structures and even a significant number of private companies,” he said in his address to the lower house of the Russian parliament, the State Duma.