US banks to begin reporting Russian assets for eventual forfeiture under new law
AP Business Writer
NEW YORK (AP) — The Treasury Department is ordering the nation’s banking industry to start disclosing its holdings of Russian assets, with the goal of eventually seizing those billions of dollars in assets and selling them to aid the devastated Ukrainian economy. The disclosure is required under a new law passed by Congress earlier this year known as the REPO Act, which gives the U.S. government the authority to seize Russian state assets held by U.S. banks, with the goal of eventually selling them and giving those funds to Ukraine. It’s estimated that the U.S. banking system holds as much as $6 billion in Russian assets in trust.
