Visa inks deal on processing via Russia’s national payment system

MOSCOW, Feb 19 (PRIME) -- International payment card system Visa and the National Payment Card System (NPCS) concluded an agreement to process its payment card transactions in Russia through the NPCS processing center, the central bank said in a statement Thursday.

Visa and the NPCS signed the agreement on Wednesday along with a trilateral contract with Russia’s central bank, which stipulates the procedure to implement settlements on Visa local transactions.

MasterCard, another international payment card system, signed an agreement to transfer its local transactions to processing via the NPCS in December 2014.

In 2014, the U.S. prohibited Visa and Master Card from servicing credit cards issued by Bank Rossiya, Sobinbank, SMP Bank and several smaller banks belonging to businessmen of President Vladimir Putin’s inner circle. The Russian government ordered that international payment systems should sign cooperation agreements with the NPCS or to pay large security fees and penalties.

End