ACCESS Joint Committee statement on Russian invasion of Ukraine

11 March 2022

The ACCESS Joint Committee met on Monday 7 March 2022.

At that meeting the 11 Local Authorities that make up the ACCESS Pool unanimously condemned the Russian invasion of Ukraine in the strongest possible terms.

The extent of direct Russian-based investment within the ACCESS Pool has only ever been on a very small scale, and as at 1 March 2022 accounted for just 0.05% of pooled assets. Following the imposition of sanctions by the UK and other governments, the Russian equity market closed and Russian stocks have been excluded from major indices. As a result of these actions, the value of ACCESS Pool holdings in local Russian shares, ADRs and GDRs has been written down to zero. At this time, ACCESS has received assurances from our partners involved regarding the cessation of all new purchases of Russian securities until further notice.

On behalf of the Joint Committee, and with our partners and advisers, the ACCESS Support Unit will continue to monitor the situation. Furthermore, the ACCESS Authorities will continue to review and monitor their investments including approaches to exiting Russian-based investments when that is practicable.

The Committee‘s thoughts throughout this time remain with the courageous people of Ukraine.

Source: Access