CBR continuing talks with banks on phasing out Visa, Mastercard cards

SOCHI. Oct 9 (Interfax) - The Central Bank of Russia (CBR) is continuing talks with banks on gradually phasing out the cards of foreign payment systems Visa Inc. and Mastercard Inc. since they have left the country, but it will not take any abrupt steps, the head of the CBR's national payment system department, Alla Bakina told reporters on the sidelines of the Finopolis forum.

"We, as the regulator, will certainly not make any sudden moves that will inconvenience citizens. We're in a dialog with banks, with the market, on how to take the right steps so that all issues of security are observed and the cards do not stop working," Bakina said, commenting on the upcoming expiration of security certificates for Visa and Mastercard cards on January 1, 2026.

"This is genuinely an important aspect and here it's right to not just restrict this period [that the cards work], but for us to synchronize with banks on how to carry out a smooth replacement. In other words, banks have been doing this work since 2022 to gradually, in stages, take the cards of payment systems that left out of circulation, and we're not planning, I repeat, to make sudden moves. So the dialog continues," Bakina said.

Visa and Mastercard simultaneously announced in March 2022 that they were suspending operations on the Russian market due to the conflict in Ukraine. Visa and Mastercard cards issued by Russian banks continue to work within the country because transactions on them have been processed by the National Payment Card System (NPCS) since 2015. The CBR is the NPCS's sole shareholder.