Sberbank to Stand In for Disgraced Russian Lender

MOSCOW, November 21 (RIA Novosti) – Russia’s largest lender said Thursday it would step in to help with card payments after financial regulators revoked the license of a major bank, causing widespread problems for customers.

State-owned Sberbank said it had agreed with Visa and MasterCard to assume the card processing services run by Moscow-based Master Bank, which was shut down Wednesday by the central bank.

Master Bank ran a large network of ATMs, serviced card payments for almost a third of the country's banks and had issued bank cards to about 3 million people, according to media repots.

Central bank officials earlier expressed their support for an offer by Sberbank to assume responsibility for Master Bank’s payment processing services.

Master Bank, which counts a cousin of President Vladimir Putin among the members of its board of directors, had its license revoked for alleged involvement in money laundering schemes.