ShareMOSCOW: Russian banks said yesterday they planned to issue cards using China's UnionPay system after Visa and Mastercard moved to suspend operations in Russia over Moscow's military intervention in Ukraine. Russian Visa and Mastercard bank cards will no longer be valid abroad, and cards issued abroad will no longer work in Russia, the global payments companies announced Saturday.
Major Russian lenders Sberbank and Alfa Bank said they are working on a rollout of UnionPay cards. "Sberbank is working on the possibility of issuing co-branded Mir-UnionPay cards. We will inform you later about the timeframe for the issue," Russia's largest bank Sberbank said in a statement. The country's largest private lender Alfa Bank said it is "already working on launching cards on UnionPay, China's national payment system". Rosbank, Tinkoff Bank, and the Credit Bank of Moscow (MKB) are also working on releasing UnionPay cards, Russian news agencies reported.
Russia's economy and in particular its financial sector are reeling under the weight of unprecedented sanctions after Moscow sent tens of thousands of soldiers into Ukraine with the aim of overthrowing the Kyiv government. Russia's central bank said that Visa and Mastercard cards already issued by national banks will continue to work within Russia until their expiry, since all payments in Russia are made through a national system. However, it warned that Russians travelling abroad would need to carry alternate means of payment. Russia to let banks cut back reporting results amid sanctions
Russia's central bank announced yesterday it was allowing lenders in the country to reduce the frequency of their financial disclosures, a measure it said was necessary to mitigate sanctions fallout. Moscow has been hit with a damaging package of financial and cultural penalties by Western countries in the wake of Russia's military incursion into Ukraine.
The central bank in recent days has taken unprecedented measures, including capital controls, to shore up the struggling economy and the ruble. "The Bank of Russia decided to temporarily reduce the volume of publication of financial statements of credit institutions," it said in a statement on its site.
"This was done to limit the risks of credit institutions associated with the sanctions imposed by Western countries." It added, however, that financial institutions would still be required to submit reports to it, a step it said would "make it possible to fully exercise effective supervision over their activities and analyze the sector."
The EU this week cut seven Russian banks from the SWIFT payment system as part of Western-coordinated sanctions on Russia for its operation in Ukraine. The tanking ruble revived unpleasant memories of financial instability of the 1990s, when millions of Russians saw their savings evaporate under the effect of a devaluating currency and soaring inflation.
Retailers in Russia will limit sales of essential foodstuffs to limit black market speculation and ensure affordability, the government said yesterday, as sanctions imposed over Moscow's military incursion into Ukraine began to bite. The trade and industry ministry over the weekend said there had been cases where essential foodstuffs had been purchased "in a volume clearly larger than necessary for private consumption (up to several tons) for subsequent resale".
Trade organizations representing retailers had proposed retailers be allowed to limit the volume of specific goods sold to individuals at any one time, the ministry's statement said. "The Ministry of Industry and Trade and the Ministry of Agriculture supported the initiative of trade organizations," the release said, noting that the organizations themselves would work out the policy.
Essential goods, whose prices are subject to state controls, include bread, rice, flour, eggs and selected meats and dairy products among others. Moscow has been hit with a damaging package of financial and cultural penalties by Western countries since the Kremlin initiated what it has called "a special military operation" in neighboring Ukraine on February 24.
The central bank in recent days has taken unprecedented measures, including capital controls, to shore up the struggling economy and the ruble. The tanking ruble has revived unpleasant memories of financial instability of the 1990s, when millions of Russians saw their savings evaporate under the effect of a devaluating currency and soaring inflation. - AFP
