Key facts:
Russian banks Sberbank, Alfa Bank and Tinkoff are working with China’s UnionPay.
Mastercard, Visa and American Express suspended their operations in Russia.
The recent suspension of the operations of several payment companies such as Mastercard, Visa and American Express in Russia, has received responses from several financial entities in that country. Everything seems to indicate that China has come to the rescue of Moscow.
The Russian banks Sberbank, Alfa Bank and Tinkof announced on their respective Telegram channels that they are preparing the ground to issue cards with the Chinese payment system UnionPay.
Sberbank Indian they are working on the possibility of issuing payment cards with UnionPay. “We will announce the release date soon,” he reported.
For his part, Tinkoff also contemplate the Chinese payment system, as well as other options for its customers to make payments abroad.
While Alpha Bank assured who are also working on launching UnionPay cards, which can be used in 180 countries.
The payment system UnionPay, founded in China in 2002 and managed by the central bank of that country, has not confirmed what was said by the Russian banks. But its help to Russia would not be surprising, since the Asian country reject the sanctions of the West against its neighbor and is one of its most important trading partners.
Russian banks would work with UnionPay, including the autonomous payment processing system of the Russian Federation, looklaunched in 2014. Apparently, Russia was already prepared for future sanctions that would exclude it from the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunications (SWIFT), as indeed happened several days ago, as reported by CriptoNoticias.
US and European Sanctions Lead Visa, Mastercard and American Express to Pull Out of Russia
Both the United States and the European Union (EU) have issued economic sanctions against Russia after its attack on Ukraine, which has left, until now, 1 million displaced in two weeks of conflict. In this context, Visa, Mastercard and American Express indicated this weekend that will suspend their operations in the coming days in that country.
Through a releaseVisa explained that its cards issued in Russia will no longer work outside the country and Visa cards issued by financial institutions outside of Russia will no longer work within the Russian Federation.
“We are forced to act following Russia’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine and the unacceptable events we have witnessed,” said Al Kelly, Visa’s chairman and CEO.
master card too joined the suspension of its services in Russia. “Given the unprecedented nature of the current conflict and the uncertain economic environment, we have decided to suspend our network services in Russia,” express.
In the same way as Visa, cards issued by Russian banks will no longer be compatible with the Mastercard network, regardless of where they are used, inside or outside Russia. And any Mastercard card issued outside the country will not work at Russian ATMs or merchants.
For its part, American Express followed the steps of the other companies and made a similar decision, although it also included Belarus in the suspension of its services, since it is a country allied with Russia in the attack on Ukraine.
US wants bitcoin exchanges to block Russia too
The US measures against Russia want bitcoin and other cryptocurrency exchanges to be included.
The National Security Council of the White House and the Treasury Department met a few days ago with representatives of some of the largest exchanges in the world in search of support, a fact reported by CriptoNoticias.
The intention is to prevent Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies be an escape valve for sanctioned Russian individuals and organizations.