Russian banks turn to China after Visa and Mastercard leave the country

Several Russian banks announced, on Sunday (6), that they will issue new payment cards with the Chinese UnionPay card system linked to the Russian Mir network, after the decision of the American giants Visa and Mastercard to suspend their operations in Russia. The decision was made by the largest financial institution of the country, Sberbank, as well as Alfa-Bank and Tinkoff.

Visa and Mastercard, the world’s leaders in this sector, announced on Saturday that they will no longer operate in the Russian territory. In the coming days, all transactions initiated with Visa cards issued in Russia will not work outside the country, and not all Visa cards issued abroad will work inside Russia.

“We are compelled to act after the unprovoked Russian invasion of Ukraine and the unacceptable events we are witnessing,” Al Kelly, managing director of Visa, said in a statement.

Mastercard has already made it clear that cards issued by Russian banks will no longer be accepted on its network and that those issued by financial institutions outside Russia will not be valid at Russian ATMs or commerce.

According to the Russian news agency TASS, Sberbank said that the sanctions announced by US companies will not affect users of the cards it issues in Russia.

Supervision of bank balances

On Sunday, the Russian Central Bank also ordered the country’s banks not to publish their financial statements again since the adoption of Western sanctions against the country. Actions threaten annihilate the banking sector The economics of the country’s population.

Some of the largest financial institutions have been cut off from the international Swift system, which limits transactions with the rest of the world. The Russian currency, the ruble, depreciated, and restrictions were imposed on the purchase of foreign currency in the country in an attempt to reduce national losses and capital flight.

“The Bank of Russia has taken a decision to temporarily limit the volume of balance sheet publications by credit institutions to its institutions and the Central Bank,” notes a statement from British Columbia, citing Western sanctions.

The text adds that banks should continue to pass on information to the central bank, but it will no longer be disclosed.

Over the past week, Russians have taken their savings from bank accounts en masse, as evidenced by images of long queues in front of ATMs and banks.

With information from Reuters and Agence France-Presse