Fitch threatens to downgrade Euroclear’s rating over assets
17 December 2025 11:18
Fitch Ratings has placed Euroclear Bank’s and Euroclear Holding’s long-term default ratings of AA on its watch list with a negative outlook. A similar decision was made with regard to the sustainability ratings, short-term ratings and debt obligations of the group companies, according to Fitch Ratings, released on Tuesday, December 16, "Komersant Ukrainian".
Fitch expects clarity from Europe
As the agency explained, the decision reflects a possible increase in liquidity and legal risks for Euroclear in connection with the European Commission’s plans to use the frozen assets of the Central Bank of Russia to provide Ukraine with a so-called reparations loan. An additional factor was the agreement agreed by the EU countries on December 12 to use emergency mechanisms under Article 122 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union.
The report emphasizes that Fitch intends to remove the rating from review after it receives sufficient clarity on the decision-making process and the format of a possible reparations loan.
Fitch on the risks associated with lending to Ukraine
In connection with the plans to invest Euroclear funds received from the frozen assets of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation in a debt instrument to finance the loan to Ukraine, Fitch points out that “there is still a low but possible risk that insufficient legal and liquidity mechanisms could cause a mismatch in the timing of payments”.
At the same time, the agency’s baseline scenario assumes that if the EU plan goes ahead, Euroclear will receive “comprehensive” safeguards that will allow it to maintain its current AA rating.
Reparations loan for Kyiv
According to the scheme being discussed in the EU, about 210 billion euros of Russian assets frozen in Europe are to be used to secure interest-free loans to Ukraine. The loan will be repaid only if Russia pays reparations to Ukraine. So far, the EU has not been able to reach an agreement: Belgium, where a significant portion of the assets are stored, expresses concerns about legal risks. Bulgaria, Italy, Malta, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Slovakia are also against the idea.
on December 12, the EU decided to freeze Russian assets indefinitely. On the same day, the Bank of Russia filed a lawsuit against Euroclear with the Moscow Arbitration Court, with claims exceeding 18 trillion rubles.
According to the Central Bank’s argumentation, the assets and reserves blocked in the EU jurisdiction are federal property in respect of which Euroclear has abused its rights and violated public order. According to the Central Bank’s estimates, the amount of losses incurred as of December 1 of this year amounted to EUR 200.1 billion (EUR 181.46 billion in losses plus EUR 18.64 billion in lost profits). Moscow has repeatedly warned that Russia will consider any actions with its foreign assets to be theft and will respond to it.
