Russia issues first national payment card as an alternative to Visa, Mastercard Tuesday Dec 15,2015

 

Russian banks on Tuesday Dec 15,2015 began to issue the first national payment card as an alternative to Visa and Mastercard, an idea championed after Western sanctions left some consumers unable to make card purchases.

The "Mir" card -- a name that could be translated both as "peace" and "world" -- was issued by a string of banks, among them Gazprombank, Rossiya bank and others blacklisted by the West following Moscow's annexation of Crimea from Ukraine last year

The emission and distribution of the card mark a "most important stage in ensuring the country's financial sovereignty," said a statement by the National System of Payment Cards (NSPK), an entity created by the Russian Central Bank last July in a bid to reduce dependance on the West.

A total of 35 banks are participating in the payment system, and seven have issued the card in the pilot programme, the Russian central bank said, publishing a picture of the blue and green-coloured cards.

"The first banks to issue the ‘Mir’ card were Gazprombank, MDM Bank, Moscow Industrial Bank, RNCB Bank, Rossiya Bank, Sviaz-Bank and SMP Bank," the NSPC said.

The "Mir" payment system’s basic functionality includes cash deposits and withdrawals, goods and services payments, as well as card-to-card money transfers