Global credit card network that ranks second in size and growth.
Hemant Singh – Mumbai Uncensored, 8th March 2022
Following the announcement by Visa and MasterCard that their operations in Russia would be suspended, many Russian banks announced on Sunday that they would soon begin issuing cards using The system of China’s UnionPay card operator in cooperation with Russia’s native Mir network.
Sberbank (SBER.MM), Russia’s largest lender, as well as Alfa Bank and Tinkoff, made announcements about the conversion to UnionPay on Sunday.
Credit cards issued by Russian banks utilizing the Visa and Mastercard payment systems would no longer be accepted outside of Russia after March 9, according to Russia’s central bank, who added that some local lenders will instead utilize China’s UnionPay system.
Russian-issued Mastercard and Visa cards will be accepted throughout Russia until they expired, according to the bank. According to the bank, the overseas prohibition also applies to cards issued by international banks’ local subsidiaries.
The central bank also stated that numerous Russian banks intend to issue cards through UnionPay, a system that it claims is available in 180 countries. While numerous Russian banks already utilize UnionPay, others, including Sberbank and Tinkoff, may begin producing cards that co-badge Russia’s internal Mir payments system with UnionPay, according to the report.
A lot of Russians, including tourists, have been stuck overseas after various nations blocked their airspace to Russian aircraft, and Russia has retaliated by banning flights from many other airlines.
The central bank encouraged citizens who were currently abroad to withdraw money before the restriction went into effect.
Earlier many companies also did the same against Russia
Earlier, companies such as Inditex, Airbnb, Rolls Royce, Netflix, PayPal, Intel, and Airbnb announced they were leaving the country’s market.
Due to the new circumstances, Russian banks, including Russia’s largest lender, Sberbank, as well as Alfa Bank and Tinkoff, published announcements announcing the switch to UnionPay. Some Russian banks, including, Gazprombank, Pochta Bank, Sovcombank, Promsvyazbank, and others, had previously used the UnionPay card operator’s system.
