Russia moves to phase out Visa and Mastercard
Russia's National Payment Card System (NSPK) plans to cut interchange fees for Visa and Mastercard to zero, making it unprofitable for Russian banks to continue issuing these cards.
The National Payment Card System (NSPK), which processes all card transactions in Russia, has announced plans to eliminate interchange fees for Visa and Mastercard. Interchange fees are the payments a card-issuing bank receives from a merchant’s bank each time a card is used. NSPK intends to reduce the rate to 1% starting in 2027 and eliminate it entirely from 2028, a move that would make it unprofitable for Russian banks to issue Visa and Mastercard cards.
After Visa and Mastercard left Russia following the start of Russia's full-scale war against Ukraine, NSPK initially kept the interchange rates unchanged, stating that the decision would allow Russian banks to preserve existing lending and loyalty programs for cardholders. Russian banks subsequently extended the validity periods of their Visa and Mastercard cards or made them indefinite.
In autumn 2025, NSPK head Dmitry Dubynin said that cards with expired validity should be restricted, explaining that the security certificates in the chips of such cards had stopped working as of January 1, 2025. However, Russia's central bank assured at the time that Visa and Mastercard cards issued by Russian banks would continue to work and that there would be no "abrupt steps" to disable the cards.
