International payment systems (IPS) Visa and MasterCard intend to create a Russian operator within a year and a half, Prime reports on Friday, May 23 , with reference to Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov, who announced this following negotiations with company representatives at the St. Petersburg International economic forum (SPIEF).

“They approached the government with a proposal to ensure, within six months, a regime for establishing relations with Russian payment systems - in order to create a Russian company - purely Visa and MasterCard - within another year and a half,” the minister said.

He admitted that the issue of creating a Russian operator represented by Visa and MasterCard will take time, and until that moment “they are ready to work with existing payment systems.”

The head of the Ministry of Finance added that the Russian government has heard the proposals of the Ministry of Railways and is ready to cooperate. “We will report to the country’s leadership and in the near future we will find a solution that suits both MasterCard and Visa, and the Russian operator,” Siluanov noted.

In May 2014, Russia adopted a law establishing the National Payment Card System (NSCP). In particular, it obliges the Ministry of Railways to make a security deposit in a special account of the Bank of Russia in the amount of the amount of money transfers made in Russia within two days. In this regard, payment systems expressed serious concern, since, according to experts , after the adoption of the MPS law, it became more profitable to leave Russia than to continue their business here.

Later, Siluanov admitted the impossibility of abandoning Visa and MasterCard, since “90% of payment system users work with them.” On Thursday, May 22, Interfax, citing a source, reported that deputies introduced amendments to the law on NPSK to the State Duma, which provide an opportunity to revise stricter requirements for international payment systems (IPS).

The Russian leadership seriously thought about the creation of the NSPK after at the end of March 2014, following the imposition of sanctions by the United States due to the events in Ukraine, Visa and MasterCard blocked payment transactions for Rossiya Bank cardholders. Bank Rossiya responded to this by announcing that it was going to work only on the Russian market and only with rubles. Later, SMP Bank and Investkapitalbank were also sanctioned.

Visa and MasterCard will create a local operator in Russia