MOSCOW, April 28 (RIA Novosti) – US-based financial services giant Visa International said Monday it was concerned about the future of its business in Russia in light of new legislation on a national card payment system in the country.
Russia’s lower house of parliament passed a bill Friday to establish a national card payment system in a bid to diversify the country’s financial system away from global powerhouses Visa and MasterCard, which denied services to several Russian banks as part of US-imposed sanctions against Russia.
“We are concerned about some of the amendments adopted by the State Duma, especially a provision that requires international card payment services to place a large insurance deposit at Russia’s Central Bank,” Visa said in a statement obtained by RIA Novosti in Russian.
“Our preliminary estimates show that the amount of this deposit is several times more than Visa’s annual revenue in Russia,” the company said, adding that such a requirement could seriously affect Visa’s business on the Russian market.
MasterCard expressed similar concerns last week.
As a reaction to Crimea reunifying with Russia last month, the US introduced targeted sanctions against Russian officials and Rossiya Bank, considered by the US Treasury to be a private bank for many Russian government officials.
Following the move, international payment system operators Visa and MasterCard stopped client operations for cardholders at Rossiya Bank, SMP Bank, as well as their subsidiaries Sobinbank and Investkapitalbank with no prior notice, causing a serious drop in the consumer confidence of the banks.
Bank Rossiya reacted to the sanctions by closing all its correspondent accounts in US banks, announcing it will operate only on the domestic market using the ruble.
Moscow has repeatedly criticized Washington for using the “language of sanctions” against Russia, saying the move was counterproductive and mutually destructive.
