MOSCOW, June 10 (RIA Novosti) – The Central Bank of Russia (CBR) is to establish the operator of Russia’s national card payment system on June 16, CBR First Deputy Chairman Georgy Luntovsky said Tuesday.
“We are establishing the [national card payment system] operator at the June 16 board meeting. As far as the [company’s structure] is concerned, we should prepare the decision by June 25,” Luntovsky said.
Russian President Vladimir Putin signed into law a bill to create a national card payment processing system in early May.
Plans to establish the system were initiated in response to Ukraine-related sanctions that saw several Russian banks denied service by global powerhouses Visa and MasterCard, troubling the general public and raising concern over the security of the country’s financial system.
In late March, following Russia’s reunification with Crimea, Visa and MasterCard halted client operations for cardholders at Bank Rossiya, SMP Bank, as well as at their subsidiaries Sobinbank and Investkapitalbank, with no prior notice, causing a serious drop in the banks’ consumer confidence.
Russia’s Minister of Finance Anton Siluanov said last month that Visa and MasterCard could launch their own payment system operator in Russia within the next 18 months. The companies said they wished to continue working in Russia, despite recent stricter regulatory requirements signed into law by President Putin.
The law to create a national card payment system has tightened requirements for payment system operators with clearing and settlement centers outside Russia.
Specifically, it obliges foreign payment systems to make quarterly contributions to a special account in the CBR beginning July 1, of 25 percent of their average daily turnover. In addition, penalties have been introduced for operators of payment systems for the unilateral termination of services.
