UnionPay restricts acceptance in Russia of own cards issued abroad - reports

MOSCOW. Sept 2 (Interfax) - China's UnionPay has UnionPay introduced a ban on servicing its cards issued by foreign banks in the POS-terminals of sanctioned Russian merchant acquirer banks, RBC reported, quoting sources at the banks and a payments market source.

"Yes, the Chinese UnionPay payment system has, on its own initiative, restricted partnerships with sanctioned banks both in terms of merchant acquiring and issuance. Acceptance of foreign UnionPay cards was disabled only following verbal notification," the payment market source said.

One of the sources said UnionPay could have made such a decision due to concerns about secondary sanctions. Another source at a bank said cards stopped working back in the spring.

Visa and MasterCard ended operations on the Russian market at the beginning of March owing to Russia's special military operation in Ukraine. Later, the Japanese payment company, JCB, and American Express announced the suspension of operations in Russia. The cards of these payment systems issued by Russian banks are not accepted for payment abroad and/or in foreign online stores. Cards issued by foreign banks were no longer accepted in Russia.

UnionPay cards could have become an alternative to Visa and MasterCard for payments abroad. The Chinese payments system says on its website that it operates in 180 countries. However, users have often complained that it is by no means possible to pay with UnionPay cards everywhere, and many foreign online stores and their merchant acquirers have been cutting off any payments from cards issued Russia.