Council holds more than £1m in Russian investments

Shetland South councillor Allison Duncan.

A councillor has called for the SIC to remove its £1 million of Russian investments as soon as possible.

Shetland South member Allison Duncan said at today’s (Monday) policy and resources committee meeting that he was “very disappointed” to hear the council would not immediately remove its investments.

He called for their removal “the sooner the better”, even if it meant a financial loss for the council.

Mr Duncan said it was important to disinvest due to the “hell that the Ukrainian people and families are going through”.

Finance chief Jamie Manson told the committee the council held £1,062,699 in Russian investments – equivalent to 0.62 per cent of its total investment fund. 

As they are part of a product comprised of many different investments, Mr Manson explained it was not possible to simply disinvest from the Russian parts of it.

He said it would require disinvesting from the entire product, taking out “hundreds of millions” and incurring a financial loss to the council. 

Mr Manson also noted the Moscow stock market was currently suspended, making it difficult to sell Russian shares. 

However, he said fund managers were already removing Russian investments from products, “largely due to commercial reasons” but also due to “social concerns”.

In the coming months, Mr Manson said he expected the products to be “rebalanced” to remove all Russian investments.