Banks saw an increase in the share of Mir cards after the departure of Visa and Mastercard

According to the banks, the share of payments made by Mir cards in RUSSIA has grown, winning positions from Visa and Mastercard. After the departure of Western systems, all cards now have one operator.

The share of transactions with Mir cards increased in March of this year - they are increasingly replacing payments through Visa and Mastercard, follows from the data of large acquiring banks, which were presented to RBC by their representatives. This was told in Tinkoff Bank, VTB, Alfa-Bank, Russian Standard, MKB, PSB and Otkritie. The popularity of "Mir" is growing, despite the fact that the cards of Western systems continue to work within the country and, in fact, have no drawbacks compared to national ones. In addition, now all these cards are serviced by a single company - the National Payment Card System (NSPK).

Visa and Mastercard, which occupied the main shares in the Russian payment market, decided to suspend their work in Russia from March 10th. In return, their banks offer cards of the national payment system "Mir" and the Chinese payment system UnionPay (for payments abroad).

The first Mir cards were issued in 2015. Their operator NSPK was created in 2014 after sanctions due to the annexation of Crimea by Russia, in case the cards of international payment systems are turned off. Subsequently, they became mandatory for the transfer of salaries to state employees, as well as for receiving pensions and benefits. According to the Central Bank, at the end of 2021, 113.6 million Mir cards were issued. They account for 25.7% of all card transactions in Russia and 32.5% of new card issuance.

What banks fix

Over the month from February 28 to the end of March, the share of payments with Mastercard cards decreased from 43 to 38%, the share of Visa - from 38 to 35%, the share of payments with Mir cards increased from 18 to 26%, Tinkoff Business (a division of Tinkoff Bank that provides acquiring services in offline stores). “The share of Mir payments at retail outlets began to grow sharply after Mastercard and Visa cards stopped working in APPLE Pay and GOOGLE Pay, and reached 33% by March 21. After the Mir cards stopped working in Apple Pay and Google Pay, the share of this payment system decreased, ”says a bank representative. According to the statistics of VTB's acquiring business, the share of payments with Mir cards in March reached a maximum of 28.4% of the total turnover of card transactions. The average value of the same indicator for February was 18.4%. In absolute terms, turnover on Mir cards increased by 10% over the month. VTB customers, holders of Mir cards, used them to pay for purchases at retail outlets for 83 billion rubles, which is 73% more than a year earlier. “As a result, the share of national payment cards in the POS-turnover on bank cards increased from 23 to 34% over the year. On some days in March this year, the share of purchases with Mir cards in stores reached 45%,” said Svyatoslav Ostrovsky, member of the VTB Board. In the acquiring of Alfa-Bank, the share of Mir cards in March of this year amounted to 18% of the total volume of payments, last year the average value of this indicator was 15%, says Alexei Kirichek, HEAD of the department for the development of acquiring and payment services at Alfa-bank. The total rate of transactions with Visa and Mastercard accounts for 65% of the total volume of transactions. But, for example, in 2019, their share was 20 p.p. more, he recalls. According to the Russian Standard acquiring network, the share of Mir cards in March 2022 exceeded 30% in terms of payments. For comparison: in March 2021, their share was 21% in terms of payments, and in February 2022 - 25%. At MKB in March 2022, the share of payments on Mir cards amounted to about 27%, having increased 2 times compared to March last year and February this year. At the same time, the number of Mir cards themselves increased by more than 70% by March last year and by 40% by February 2022. The share of Mastercard payment system cards in March of this year decreased by 10 p.p. both March 2021 and February 2022. The share of Visa in March 2022 decreased by 20 p.p. compared to March last year and by 8 p.p. by February 2022. Otkritie also sees a trend towards an increase in turnover on Mir cards. “At the moment, the share of transactions with these cards is becoming predominant,” a bank representative said, but did not provide exact data. In the acquiring network of Promsvyazbank in March 2022, the share of Mir cards in terms of payment volume was 22%, an increase of 5.7 p.p. by February 2022 and 6.3 p.p. by March 2021. The share of Visa cards was 36% in March against 39% in February, the share of Mastercard was 41% in March against 44% in February.