MOSCOW, August 29 (RIA Novosti) - The Central Bank of Russia (CBR) began financing the National Card Payment System (NCPS) with an initial authorized capital of 500 million rubles ($13.6 million), Izvestia newspaper reported Friday.
“The [Central] Bank of Russia has started financing National Card Payment System. … the regulator has introduced authorized capital of 500 million rubles [$13.6 million] to the NCPS joint-stock company. In total, there are 5,000 shares with a par value of 100,000 rubles [$2,710],” the newspaper reported, citing an extract from Russia’s Uniform State Register of Legal Entities.
“The [current] authorized capital of NCPS … the only originator of which … is the [Central] Bank of Russia, may not coincide with the cost of establishing National Card Payment System,” the CBR said via a press service
The newspaper explained that the NCPS statutes state that the company can issue as many as 40,000 additional shares at the same price for a total of $108 million, thus bringing the total registered capital to $122 million. Earlier, the CBR estimated the cost of creating the NCPS at the $247-$275 million. Additionally, according to the payment system’s charter, the CBR will also have veto rights for all decisions.
The issue of ensuring the security of card payments inside Russia was raised after Visa and MasterCard suspended processing payments at Russia’s SMP and Rossiya banks, as they were subject to Western economic sanctions over Russia’s stance on Ukraine. The CBR decided that the National Card Payment System would be administrated by a joint-stock company under its control and supervision.
