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Mir cards float reaches 228.4 mln up from 182.3 mln in 2022 — Bank of Russia

New participants are connecting to the system, now their number is 514, including 131 non-residents from 15 countries

MOSCOW, September 1. /TASS/. The number of issued Mir payment cards increased by a quarter since the beginning of 2023, and reached 228.4 million, while and the traffic of the Financial Message System (SPFS) increased by 4.3 times over the year. Bank of Russia presented such data at the conference "10 Years of the Mega-Regulator: Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow."

The regulator also notes that traffic of the SPFS grew over the year by 102 million transactions, or 4.3 times. New participants are connecting to the system, now their number is 514, including 131 non-residents from 15 countries.

In 2014, the Russian authorities created the National System of Payment Cards (NSPC), which is responsible for the creation of a center for processing domestic transactions using cards of international payment systems, as well as the issuance and promotion of a national payment card. Since 2015, all transactions with cards of the Visa and MasterCard systems have been carried out through the NSPC. Back then the Mir payment card was also developed.

The financial messaging system has also been operating since 2014. SPFS can transmit data in SWIFT format, but does not depend on its channels. In 2017, SPFS began to operate in full, transmitting messages about transactions in any currency. Initially, it was intended only for domestic Russian users, but now non-residents are also connecting to it.

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