MasterCard agrees Russian processing deal

MasterCard agrees Russian processing deal

MasterCard has signed a deal to transfer domestic Russian transaction processing to the country's new national payments system.

Under the agreement, MasterCard will gradually transfer all transactions to the National System Of Payment Cards with the Bank of Russia carrying out settlement services.

The national payments system has been built at the behest of President Vladimir Putin in response to US and EU sanctions over the summer which saw MasterCard and Visa cut off services to several of the country's banks.

MasterCard has been obliged to switch processing to the new system in order to avoid handing over a massive security deposit. Visa is set to follow suit.

Putin's determination to reduce Russia's dependence on Western financial systems will also see the system start issuing its own cards later this year, while the country's central bank is vowing to build an international inter-bank payment system rival to Swift.

Comments: (0)

Trending