As sanctions pile up against Russia, JPMorgan Chase, which runs the most popular emerging market bond indexes, may revise its widely used indexes so that investment funds that track the benchmarks cease buying the underlying securities.
An investor poll is being conducted by JPMorgan Chase & Co (NYSE:JPM) regarding the possible exclusion of Russia's hard currency and local debt from its benchmarks.
The Wall Street bank asked investors in a 'Survey Monkey' poll whether various sovereign and corporate bonds in roubles and hard currencies should be retained or removed, according to a Reuters report.
Earlier this month, the bank said it was reviewing whether to include some debt from Russia, Belarus and Ukraine in its benchmarks. JPMorgan also announced it was excluding new securities issued by sanctioned Russian entities from its Emerging Market Bond Index (EMBI).
In the event securities are to be removed, participants in the JPM survey were asked whether they preferred a timeframe by the end of March or the end of April.
With responses due by midnight on Sunday, a decision could be made next week.
Russia said on Sunday that its sovereign bond payments are at risk, raising the prospect of its first major default on foreign bonds since the years following the 1917 Bolshevik revolution.
Russia's finance ministry said they will service and pay their sovereign debt in full and on time, but they could be hindered by international sanctions.