The merger of the two payment systems comes after the two credit card companies halted business with the country.
The Russian Central Bank announced on Sunday that some of the country’s banks plan to issue cards using UnionPay, a Chinese card operating system with Russia’s Mir payment system, after Visa and Mastercard suspended its operations in the country over its invasion of Ukraine. The two credit card companies will also no longer function after March 9, according to Reuters. UnionPay is a Chinese system that is enabled in 180 countries and specializes in providing cross-border payment services. In using UnionPay as an alternative, Russia’s Mir Network, a payment system for electronic fund transfers and is sponsored by the Russian government, will partner with the Chinese system to issue co-badged cards. Sberbank, Russia’s largest lender, said that it is “studying the possibility of issuing co-badged cards [called] Mir-UnionPay” and that they will announce the launch date of those cards “at a later time,” Russian news agency TASS reported. Cards that combine Mir network and the UnionPay system will allow users to make payments and cash withdrawals abroad, according to TASS.
