French banker Olivier Yubi, linked to Euroclear’s subsidiary Mfex, allegedly made threats to Euroclear CEO Valérie Urben amid tense negotiations over frozen Russian assets. The information emerged after investigative work by several journalists and civil society organizations.

Yubi’s connections and travels

Yubi is a member of the board of directors of Mfex — the company Euroclear acquired and through which about €193 billion of the Central Bank of Russia’s assets are held, frozen by EU sanctions following Russia’s full‑scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

Formally he does not hold managerial functions within the group, but his position gave him direct access to Euroclear’s senior management at a time when discussions were under way about possibly using those funds to purchase arms for Ukraine and cover the country’s basic needs.

An analysis of flight bookings shows that between 1 January 2015 and 18 December 2024 Yubi made 155 flights to Russia and back. He mainly flew to Moscow and St. Petersburg, but also visited cities in Siberia, including Arkhangelsk, Izhevsk, Kazan, Krasnoyarsk, Novosibirsk, Tomsk and Yekaterinburg.

His wife, Annette Yubi, flew to Russia around 40 times during the same period, sometimes with him, sometimes separately.

Threats and security

According to reports, Yubi tried to arrange meetings between the Euroclear CEO and his contacts, including people linked to Russian security services. Allegedly, after their refusal he is said to have issued a series of threats against Urben and another senior company official.

After one such incident Urben asked the Belgian police for protection for herself and her family, but was refused without explanation. She then hired private guards from a Belgian company, and later Euroclear engaged a larger French firm to protect its leadership.

Because Yubi lived in France and Sweden, Belgian intelligence was unable to fully investigate some of his activities. It also emerged that one of the French security firms hired by Euroclear had no information about him despite “red flags” in his behaviour.

A senior Euroclear executive allegedly received threats from Yubi that the executive’s house would be set on fire or that a pet would be killed if they did not meet his contacts. After an incident outside a bar in the first half of 2025, Yubi is said to have hinted to Urben at possible consequences if the situation was not resolved.

Urben declined to comment on the specific threats.

Euroclear’s reaction

This is my private life

– Olivier Yubi

I’m not even an adviser anymore. I haven’t been in Brussels since 2022

– Olivier Yubi

Euroclear spokesman Thomas Churchill, after speaking with the director of Mfex, commented that Yubi’s trips to Russia were related to personal interests and were never undertaken on behalf of Euroclear.

He travelled to Russia only for personal reasons, never for Euroclear. He is actively involved with ballet, notably the Bolshoi Theatre

– Thomas Churchill, Euroclear spokesman

He is also a patron of opera in France and Russia

– Thomas Churchill, Euroclear spokesman

Churchill also confirmed that Urben had publicly reported receiving threats but did not name their source; the spokesman refused to indicate the origin of the threats.

Within Euroclear there was speculation that Yubi might have contacts with intelligence services of Russia or France, or both, but these suggestions remained unconfirmed.

Yubi is 68 years old, grew up in Paris’s elite circles, and studied at the École nationale des ponts et chaussées and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. According to him, he briefly worked at French embassies in Prague and Moscow during the Cold War, but the French foreign ministry declined to confirm this.

Yubi’s career includes work at Paribas (now BNP Paribas) and Axa, co‑founding Mfex in 1999 and selling the company to Euroclear in 2021. He also participated in foreign policy events where he spoke with European officials and Russian guests, including representatives of the Moscow State Institute of International Relations.

In his autobiography Yubi listed membership in the Russian Geographical Society (RGS). That organisation was previously chaired by Vladimir Putin and its president was Sergei Shoigu; the society has links to the Russian military and intelligence. The RGS is not currently under U.S. or EU sanctions and continues to hold events abroad in 2025.

• On 10 September the European Commission proposed a mechanism that would allow frozen Russian assets to be used as the basis for a “reparations loan” of about €140 billion.
• According to estimates, such a loan could provide Ukraine with roughly €45 billion a year for three years — from 2026 to 2028. Belgium blocked adoption of this proposal.
• On 2 December a number of European governments accused Belgium of putting forward excessive demands in the event of legal claims by Russia over the frozen €140 billion held in Brussels.