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Sovereign immunity of foreign Central Bank assets

Central bank property is an attractive target for creditors seeking to satisfy a judgment against a foreign state or its central bank. To what immunity is such property entitled? Enforcement actions against foreign central bank assets have raised important questions of domestic and international law over the past two decades. Courts and arbitrators have entered large judgments against states such as Argentina, Iran, Russia and Venezuela, leading to a variety of enforcement actions against many assets, including some in which central banks have a property interest. At the same time, some countries that house major financial centers—and even some that do not—have sought to attract the assets of foreign central banks through legislation that ensures immunity from enforcement measures.