Russia’s major banks are looking to issue cards that can operate on China’s payment system UnionPay. Visa and MasterCard have announced that they will cut their services in Russia after the Russian attack on Ukraine.
Tinkoff Bank, along with Russia’s largest bank Sberbank, have said they are looking into the possibility of payment cards operating on China’s UnionPay system. Sberbank has said that it will announce the date in this regard later.
Sberbank and Tinkoff have told their customers that they will be able to use Visa and MasterCard inside Russia but will not be able to use them for payments outside the country after Wednesday.
Russia’s central bank warned on Sunday that all cards using the Visa and MasterCard systems would stop working for foreign websites and for transactions outside the country. In such a situation, the banks of Russia are looking for new options for payment abroad. It is noteworthy that after Russia’s attack on Ukraine, the countries of the West want to isolate it.