As the world continues to tally the tragic human cost of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the belligerence is affecting global financial markets as well. Locally, Vanguard has managed to come out of the military action’s associated Russian market debacle with emerging markets funds largely unscathed, writes Erin Arvedlund for The Philadelphia Inquirer. 

The investment giant’s Emerging Markets Select Stock fund is the one with the most exposure to Russia, and it only has five percent of assets in Russian equities. The fund is down just 4.3 percent for the year, compared with a decrease of 3.66 percent for the category of diversified emerging markets funds.

While this may be a relief to shareholders, Vanguard is stuck with the Russian stocks and bonds it owns because the Kremlin has shut down trading on the Moscow-based stock exchange. It is also blocking foreign investors from selling off Russian holdings for now. 

Meanwhile, Vanguard’s only funds with exposure to Ukraine are emerging markets bond funds. 

Currently, the Russian market cannot be invested in due to the sanctions and central bank curbs, which means that the next natural step is the removal of Russian listings from global indexes. 

As a result, Vanguard “is reviewing the various global sanctions and determining the impacts to our funds,” said its spokesperson. 

Read more about Vanguard in The Philadelphia Inquirer.