Russia tells Visa & MasterCard to start processing Russian transactions locally by October 31

摘要

Foreign payment service providers in Russia like Visa and MasterCard have to make a necessary security deposit by October 31 or face suspension of their operations in Russia, according to the Vedomosti newspaper reports citing a government draft decree. Under the new legislation coming into effect January 1, Russia will have the right to set an obligatory security deposit of up to 10 percent of the credit card companies' daily turnover, or about $100 million. The 10 percent deposit is much lower than the initially set 25 percent. The concession was made at the Saint Petersburg International Economic Forum, where Russian authorities agreed with Visa and MasterCard that all processing will be done within Russia, or the international payment card firms will find a Russian owner for their subsidiaries in the country.