By Andrei Skvarsky.
Russian online retailer Ozon on February 25 blamed a technical mistake for its subsidiary Ozon Bank’s being among Russian entities and individuals sanctioned by the United States for presumed roles in Russia’s current invasion of Ukraine.
Ozon said in a statement it would ask the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) of the U.S. Treasury Department to take Ozon Bank off the Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons List (SDN List).
The SDN List says Ozon Bank is “linked to” Sovcombank, one of Russia’s largest banks and one of the lenders on the list. This was the reason why Ozon Bank was included in the list on February 24, the retailer said in its statement.
Ozon Bank is the former Oney Bank, which was owned by Sovcombank but was bought from the latter by Ozon in May 2021 and renamed.
The purpose of Oney’s acquisition by Ozon was to develop financial services geared to the nature of its business, the statement said.
Ozon said it planned to appeal to OFAC to remove Ozon Bank from the SDN List but warned that it neither knew how long the U.S. agency would take to process the appeal nor had any guarantees it would be satisfied.
The retailer said there were no restrictions currently on the sale or purchase of Ozon securities by American or other persons or entities.
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