Vladimir Komlev to stand down as head of National Payment Card System on Jan 1 - - NPCS

MOSCOW. Dec 18 (Interfax) - Vladimir Komlev will stand down as head of National Payment Card System on January 1, the NPCS said in a statement.

"Vladimir Komlev was involved directly in the development of the national payment infrastructure. Under his leadership, NPCS JSC and the Mir payment system were created, allowing our citizens to use cards freely within Russia. Vladimir Komlev also made a big contribution to the development of the Faster Payment System. "We are grateful to Vladimir Komlev for his work," the Central Bank press service told Interfax, commenting on Komlev's resignation.

NPCS was set up by the Russian authorities in 2014 after a number of sanctions were imposed against Russia. Komlev had been its general director ever since. The first Mir cards were issued in December 2015.

The U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) imposed blocking sanctions against Komlev on September 15 last year.

OFAC clarified that non-U.S. financial institutions who enter into agreements with NPCS risk being involved in actions to circumvent U.S. sanctions by expanding the use of Mir cards outside of Russia. NPCS itself is not on any sanctions lists.