American Express in Russia is not express

Only MTS promises to start accepting cards from this payment system in the coming days

Acceptance of American Express cards remains limited for now. Two weeks ago, UCS, the largest Russian card acquirer, refused to service some terminals for accepting these cards for payment. Russian Standard Bank, which has the exclusive right to service AmEx cards, has not yet managed to replace all UCS terminals at retail outlets with its own. But, according to former UCS partners, this work continues. At the same time, AmEx terminals in MTS network stores are already being prepared for operation.

As of August 7, United Card Service (UCS) stopped servicing transactions on American Express cards. The terminals installed by the company in stores, communication shops, etc. stopped working. As UCS CEO Vladimir Komlev explained then, after Russian Standard Bank received exclusive rights to acquire (payment service) AmEx cards in Russia, UCS and other acquirers had to enter into agency agreements with it on the possibility of further servicing these cards at retail outlets . United Card Service was not satisfied with the conditions of the Russian Standard. The bank, according to Mr. Komlev, warned the company that over time it would offer its clients - trading and service enterprises - better conditions and they would prefer to use Russian Standard acquiring directly. In response, United Card Service decided not to continue negotiations and refused to service AmEx cards. A number of banks, which previously serviced AmEx cards and installed terminals for their acceptance at retail outlets, re-signed contracts with Russian Standard without any public scandals.

In response to the UCS demarche, Russian Standard and American Express expressed the opinion that the situation is not fatal. Within two weeks, the bank promised to replace UCS-owned terminals in stores and service enterprises with its own. So far, as it turns out, Russian Standard terminals are not installed at all former UCS partners. “Russian Standard Bank has replaced 85-90% of all UCS terminals. Every day we replace up to 100 terminals,” the bank commented on the situation, noting that work on replacing terminals continues in accordance with the planned schedule.

AmEx cards are not yet accepted in Seventh Continent stores. “This issue is being studied. We are trying to provide the opportunity for our customers to use American Express cards,” the network’s press service told Vremya Novostey, pointing out that American Express cards occupy a small share of turnover. Another supermarket chain, Globus Gourmet, noted that accepting American Express cards for payment has now been stopped, and whether it will be resumed is unknown.

The results of Russian Standard's work will soon be demonstrated by the network of stores of the mobile operator MTS - the bank has already replaced the terminals there. “Now MTS, together with Russian Standard Bank, is carrying out technical work to restore the ability to accept payments (creating a joint interface, installing POS terminals, organizing a channel, setting up billing procedures). The ability to accept AmEx cards will soon be fully restored in all MTS stores,” explained the MTS press service. They note that the majority of subscribers were not affected by the problem of accepting AmEx cards for payment due to their low prevalence. “MTS accepts American Express cards to pay for mobile phones and accessories at its offices. Now the bank is actively working to eliminate technological problems that arise when online payment of communication bills with these cards. We plan to resolve this problem in the near future,” confirmed Russian Standard.

Elena KHUTORNYKH