Russian Banks turn to Chinese UnionPay as Visa and MasterCard withdraw from Russia

Following the announcement by Visa and MasterCard to withdraw from Russia on Saturday, several Russian banks woke up on Sunday to announce plans to start issuing cards using the Chinese UnionPay card operator system.

International financial service providers Visa and Mastercard said they would suspend operations in Russia within the next several days due to the latest Western sanctions related to Moscow’s ongoing war in Ukraine. The drastic step makes the use of cards issued in Russia outside the country implausible. Likewise, cards that were issued outside of Russia will stop working in Russia.

Visa and Mastercard announcements follow similar move from several large corporations that have said they are cutting ties or trying to cut ties with Russia, including Shell, PayPal, Maersk, BP, Netflix, Intel, Airbnb, and General Motors.

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Russian banks are swiftly turning to China for an alternative. Sbernak, Russia’s biggest lender, Alfa Bank and Tinkoff have all issued announcements regarding the switch to UnionPay due to these latest developments.

Some of Russia’s banks, like Pochta Bank, Gazprombank, Promsvyazbank, Sovcombank and several other minor banks had been previously working with the UnionPay card operator’s system.

UnionPay, an international payment system founded in 2002, received international status in 2005. Headquartered in Shanghai, the company reportedly operates in more than 180 countries across the globe, including Switzerland, Greece, Italy, Spain, Germany, Mexico, Cyprus, Thailand, India, Israel, Portugal, Croatia, Poland, Serbia, Hungary and Austria.

Commenting on report of the switch to UnionPay on rt.com, a reader with the name Contrarian_Ed wrote;

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗖𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗮 𝗨𝗻𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗣𝗮𝘆 𝗰𝗮𝗿𝗱𝘀 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸 𝗶𝗻 𝗔𝗧𝗠𝘀 𝗶𝗻 𝗺𝗼𝘀𝘁 𝗰𝗼𝘂𝗻𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗲𝘀 (𝗕𝗮𝗿𝗰𝗹𝗮𝘆𝘀 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗨𝗞) 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗻 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗔𝗺𝗮𝘇𝗼𝗻 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗽𝗲.𝗰𝗼𝗺. 𝗜𝘁 𝘄𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝗯𝗲 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘃𝗲𝗻𝗶𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗥𝘂𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗮𝗻𝘀, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘄𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝗯𝗿𝗶𝗱𝗴𝗲 𝗮𝘂𝘁𝗼𝗺𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝘁𝗼 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗶𝗿 𝗥𝘂𝗯𝗹𝗲 𝗯𝗮𝗻𝗸 𝗮𝗰𝗰𝗼𝘂𝗻𝘁𝘀, 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗻𝗲𝗲𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗼 𝘂𝘀𝗲 𝗱𝗼𝗹𝗹𝗮𝗿𝘀. 𝗠𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝗥𝘂𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗮𝗻𝘀 𝘄𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝗯𝘂𝘆 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝗖𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗮 𝘂𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗔𝗹𝗶𝗯𝗮𝗯𝗮 – 𝗶𝘁 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸𝘀 𝘄𝗲𝗹𝗹 𝗶𝗻 𝗥𝘂𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗮 𝗻𝗼𝘄, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗱𝗲𝗹𝗶𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆 𝗶𝘀 𝗾𝘂𝗶𝗰𝗸..