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MasterCard transfers card processing in Russia to national system: central bank

Xinhua, January 13, 2015 Adjust font size:

International payment system company Mastercard has agreed to transfer the processing of its transactions within Russia to the country's newly established National System of Payment Cards (NSPC), Russia's Central Bank said on Monday.

MasterCard will provide its operational services and payment clearing services for domestic transactions across Russia through the NSPC processing center, according to an online statement released by the central bank.

"The agreement will allow MasterCard's operations inside Russia to be processed via the NSPC," the statement said, adding that the central bank will operate as the sole settlement center.

Meanwhile, MasterCard was granted a remission of paying security deposit to the Central Bank, the statement said.

The agreement, reached on Dec. 30, comes as part of Russia's efforts to make its financial system less dependent on the West.

"The agreement is an important step toward the implementation of the first phase of NSPC's strategy to create a payment clearing center for international card payment system operations in Russia, " the central bank added.

Earlier, Tass news agency reported that a draft three-party agreement among international card payment systems, the NSPC and the Central Bank decided to put Visa and MasterCard operations under control of the central bank.

The Russian government last year decided to diversify the electronic banking transactions market after the United States and the European Union imposed sanctions against Moscow over the Ukraine crisis.

In March 2014, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that the country would create its national payment system NSPC to secure smooth operations of local banks, in an apparent move to deter disruptions from Visa and MasterCard.

The NSPC will become fully operational in the first quarter of 2015. Endite