All news

Six largest Russian banks introduce Apple Pay support

Apple Pay currently works only with MasterCard cards in Russia

MOSCOW, November 1. /TASS/. Another six largest banks in Russia have introduced Apple Pay contactless payment system. Customers of Alfa Bank, B&N Bank, VTB24, Bank Otkritie, Raiffeisenbank and Tinkoff Bank can now use the technology, according to the banks' press services.

On October 4, Sberbank and MasterCard launched Apple Pay system on the Russian market. Bank Saint-Petersburg, MTS Bank and Yandex.Money also support the payment system. According to the Apple website, bank Russian Standard will soon introduce Apple Pay as well.

Apple Pay currently works only with MasterCard cards in Russia. A source close to the talks between Apple and Russian representatives of banks and payment systems told TASS earlier that Apple Pay payment system will start working with Visa bank cards in the Russian market in December. The source said, that the talks are in progress and the date might be changed later.

The transaction size is not limited. "Limit on transactions per day depends on the type of card product. As for Apple Pay, it is no different from traditional payment using a card," press service of Bank Otkritie told TASS. VTB24, B&N Bank, Tinkoff Bank and Alpha Bank also confirmed that there are no special restrictions on the size of transactions with Apple Pay. "Our spending limit on purchases by default does not have any restrictions. The client can set a limit on purchase for a day or a month through an online bank or mobile application," Director of Public Relations at Tinkoff Bank Darya Ermolina told TASS.

Apple Pay works with iPhone SE, iPhone 6, as well as iPad Pro, iPad Air 2, iPad mini 3 and later models, and Apple Watch. Apple Pay System can also be used through Safari Internet browser on any Mac released in 2012 and later that have been upgraded to macOS Sierra.

Apple Pay system was introduced by Apple Inc. in September 2014. The payment system allows purchases using NFC (Near Field Communication) technology on smartphones, which can be used for payment in actual stores by holding an iPhone near the reader or within apps.

In the fall 2015, Apple’s South Korean competitor - Samsung - also announced the launch of its own NFC payment system called Samsung Pay.

Samsung Pay began working in Russia in late September, and is currently available to MasterCard cardholders, customers of Alfa Bank, VTB 24, MTS Bank, Raiffeisenbank, bank Russian Standard, MTS and Yandex are partners of the service. The company expects that by the end of the year other major Russian banks will join Samsung Pay.

Sberbank CEO Herman Gref told reporters earlier that Sberbank is going to introduce Samsung pay technology in the near future.