Visa, Mastercard restrict card operations for 5 sanctioned Belarusian banks

MINSK. March 25 (Interfax) - International payment systems Visa and Mastercard have introduced restrictions on operations conducted with cards of Sberbank's Belarusian subsidiary and Bank BelVEB, the banks told Interfax.

"Payment using Visa and Mastercard cards of non-resident banks has been restricted in Sberbank's terminals system in Belarus since March 19," the bank's press service said.

These systems introduced restrictions at the beginning of March on making payments outside of Belarus using Visa and Mastercard cards issued by the Belarusian bank, the press service said.

The press service for Bank BelVEB confirmed that analogous restrictions are in effect on its cards. It is also not possible to make payments using Visa and Mastercard cards of non-resident banks in its terminals network.

However, Visa and Mastercard cards issued by these banks continue to work without restriction within Belarus.

Three sources in banking circles have confirmed to Interfax that similar restrictions on payments using Visa and Mastercard cards have been introduced in relation to another three banks in Belarus, Bank Dabrabyt, VTB's subsidiary, and Belinvestbank.

The press service for the National Bank of Belarus is not commenting on the situation, and the Visa and Mastercard press services are not available for comment.

Visa and Mastercard suspended their activities in Russia at the beginning of March. All operations carried out using cards of these systems issued by Russian banks are no longer processed outside of the country, and all Visa cards issued by financial institutions outside of Russia no longer work within the country.

Sberbank (Belarus), BelVEB, and VTB (Belarus) have fallen under Western sanctions as subsidiaries of Russian banks. Bank Dabrabyt and Belinvestbank have also been sanctioned by the European Union and the United States.

Three Belarusian banks have been disconnected from SWIFT, Belagroprombank, Bank Dabrabyt, and the Development Bank of the Republic of Belarus.