Mastercard notified sanctioned banks of their exclusion from the system

The international payment system Mastercard sent out notifications to banks that fell under US blocking sanctions to suspend their participation in the system, two sources in the payment market told RBC. These are VTB, Otkritie, Sovcombank, Promsvyazbank and Novikombank.

Participation is suspended from 16:00-17:00 Moscow time on February 26, they say. The notice of suspension of participation addressed to one of the banks, which RBC got acquainted with, says that Mastercard made such a decision due to violations of the rules of the payment system, since banks should not harm the reputation of "signs" (Mastercard payment system. -), according to their copyright holder. RBC sent a request to Mastercard.

The suspension of the bank's participation in the payment system means that Visa and Mastercard cards issued by these banks and their subsidiaries will stop working abroad and in foreign online stores. However, in Russia they will continue to work, since all card transactions within the country are processed by the National Payment Card System. When reissuing a card of a sub-sanctioned bank, in the future, a transition to the Mir payment system is possible.

“It is expected that the cards of international payment systems issued by banks that fell under sanctions (VTB, BM-Bank, Sarovbusinessbank, Otkritie, Sovcombank, Novikombank, RGS Bank) will not be able to use Apple Pay, Google Pay, but all transactions via payment for purchases and services, including in online stores, are available to customers, as usual, using a bank card - using contact or contactless technology, ”emphasizes a representative of NSPK (BM-Bank and Sarovbusinessbank - subsidiaries of VTB, RGS Bank - "daughter" of "Discovery"). The funds of all bank customers “have been saved in the accounts, all operations are available,” he adds.