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Visa, MasterCard look for Russian partner

Visa and MasterCard are currently holding talks with the country’s payment systems and processing companies

© AP Photo/Michael Probst

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Visa, MasterCard set to increase business in Russia — deputy PM

MOSCOW, Jun 5. /ITAR-TASS/. International payment systems Visa and MasterCard, which stopped processing cards issued by some Russian banks which were on the US sanctions list, are looking for a partner to organize processing in Russia, business daily Vedomosti reported Thursday, citing its sources with knowledge of the situation.

In May, Visa and MasterCard wanted to quit Russia after the government decided to create a national payment system and introduce a required deposit of hundreds of millions dollars with the Central Bank to continue operations. But they changed their minds after a meeting with Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov and Finance Minister Anton Siluanov. They also agreed to transfer the processing of Russian operations to Russia.

Now the systems are holding talks with the country’s payment systems and processing companies. Both systems are saying that it is either unprofitable for them to organize their own processing in Russia or contradicts their internal regulations, the sources said.

Visa uses global processing centers while MasterCard is cluster-organized, and it would be easier for it to set up its own processing center, but the company does not have enough time to do this.

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