ST. PETERSBURG, May 23 (RIA Novosti) – Visa and MasterCard could launch their own payment system operator in Russia within the next 18 months, Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said Friday.
“They addressed the government with a proposal to insure the process of cooperation with Russian payment systems in order to create a Russian company in the next year to year-and-a-half, which will belong exclusively to Visa or MasterCard,” Siluanov said after meeting with the companies’ representatives at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF).
According to the finance minister, the companies said they wish to continue working in Russia, despite recent stricter regulatory requirements signed into law by Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“They are ready to work under this law, under Russian legislation, but the question of the creation of a Russian operator by Visa and MasterCard requires more time. Until that moment they are ready to work in cooperation with the acting Russian payment systems,” Siluanov said.
MasterCard Russia Head Ilya Ryabiy confirmed that in the course of talks with Siluanov and First Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov the companies suggested their own solution to the problem.
“Our proposals were well received. These initiatives were preliminary approved by the government. But of course the decision that will be taken now, will depend on the president’s direct approval in the first place,” Ryabiy said, adding that if the proposals will be passed, the negative impact of the new law on payment systems will be alleviated for Visa and MasterCard.
The law to create a national card payment system tightens 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 Central Bank beginning July 1 in the amount of 25 percent of their average daily turnover. In addition, penalties have been introduced for operators of payment systems for unilateral terminating customer services.
The amendments came after Visa and MasterCard denied service to several Russian banks in late March as a result of US sanctions amid the escalating conflict in Ukraine, raising concerns about the security of the country’s financial system.
Visa and MasterCard said earlier this week they were evaluating the possibility of continued operations in Russia after recent amendments to a law on a national payment system significantly toughened regulations on their activity in the country. Visa has said it was ready to leave Russia.
