2024-02-25 18:25:30
At the end of last week, the US Treasury and State Department imposed restrictions on more than 500 individuals and companies. Among them are the National Payment Card System, banks, data centers and so on.
Sanctions imposed on the operator of the Mir payment system – NSPK, for payments within the country will not affect no way. Mir, UnionPay and even Visa and Mastercard cards (including expired ones) will continue to work as before. But tourists and Russians living abroad have already encountered problems – in particular, holders of co-branded cards “Mir” – UnionPay.
Information about the blocking of such cards is distributed in the chats of UnionPay in Russia users. This is what Anelia, a resident of Rostov-on-Don, told the editors of Business FM. Her schoolboy son now lives in the Czech Republic and pays with a UnionPay card:
“I also received a notification: “Mir”-UnionPay will not work.” But I don’t have “The World”. But co-branded cards stopped working immediately, that is, yesterday people could neither withdraw nor do anything with them.
— Did you receive a message from Rosselkhozbank?
— Yes.
— Could you read it out, please?
– No, I can’t, because it disappeared, that is, they removed it.
– Tell me, where was this notice actually?
– In your personal account. When you log into your personal account, a window immediately fills the entire screen with this written.
— Please explain, what type of card does your son have, what bank card, and where is your son now?
— Rosselkhozbank, UnionPay Classic, ruble, debit, personal. He was filming last night.
– And everything happened well?
– Absolutely. As usual, at the normal rate.
There are no messages on the RSHB website about possible problems with payments using co-badged cards, and on the Rosselkhozbank hotline, Business FM employees were told that no warnings were sent there.
At the same time, the administrator of the telegram channel “UnionPay in Russia” told Business FM that the card with two payment systems definitely no longer works in Portugal, Italy and Thailand. Payment does not go through, you cannot top up either, but you can withdraw money through SBP. There are no problems with simple UnionPay yet. But no one gives one hundred percent guarantees that they will not arise.
Returning to the “World” cards – according to the NSPK, now there are accept in Armenia, Belarus, Vietnam, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Cuba and Tajikistan. Again, they are accepting now.
In addition to NSPK, several Russian banks were included in the new US sanctions list, including St. Petersburg Bank. This is the depository of the St. Petersburg Exchange, which came under American sanctions in November last year, after which trading in foreign securities there was stopped, and the assets of Russian investors who bought shares and bonds of foreign issuers on the St. Petersburg Exchange were frozen.
Back in December, St. Petersburg Bank announced the development strategies on unlocking assets, which included, among other things, obtaining a new license from the US Treasury, which would apply to the funds of the exchange’s clients. It was also planned to move St. Petersburg Bank outside the perimeter of the exchange itself.
Investors, however, did not particularly believe in the implementation of these plans. And, as it turned out, they were right. Alexander Timofeev, Director for Analysis of Financial Markets and Macroeconomics at Eastern Gate Investment Company, continues:
Alexander Timofeev Director for Analysis of Financial Markets and Macroeconomics, Eastern Gate Investment Company
In the future, according to the expert, the St. Petersburg Exchange, in terms of unblocking, will try to follow the path that investors with assets frozen in other places had previously followed, that is, they can only rely on some kind of individual permissions. But few people also believe in the successful implementation of such a strategy for all clients of the exchange.
In addition to St. Petersburg Bank, Avangard Bank, Modulbank and a number of other players were sanctioned. None of them are in the top 100 by assets. But observers are alarmed by the fact that many of the banks on the updated sanctions list, at first glance, have nothing to do with the Russian defense industry and mainly work with small and medium-sized businesses in the consumer sector. Settlements with foreign companies also take place through these banks. And this is where the clients of these banks will most likely encounter serious difficulties, says Pavel Samiev, general director of the analytical agency BusinessDrom:
Pavel Samiev General Director of the analytical agency “BusinessDrom”
There are still many alternatives in the form of the same small regional banks in Russia, but experts are concerned about the approach itself. After all, tomorrow they may come for alternatives.
The scrupulousness and consistency in the actions of the United States also worries representatives of the Russian IT sector. In the new package, the US Treasury introduced restrictions for Russian data center providers. Rostelecom-DPC, 3data, Oxygen, Miran, the contractor for the construction of the Sbera data center and others were subject to blocking sanctions.
Experts note that large-scale sanctions against this segment of the Russian IT market have not been introduced before. Due to inclusion on the sanctions list, many of them may lose the opportunity to purchase Western equipment and software licenses. But if the Russian IT industry has already learned how to buy hardware bypassing restrictions, and now it will once again just become longer and more expensive, then with software the situation will be more complicated, says Alexey Belsky, founder of the engineering company Uralenergotel:
Alexey Belsky founder of the engineering company Uralenergotel
In addition to the United States, on February 23 new packages of sanctions against Russia were also introduced European Union, Canada, Great Britain,Japan and Australia. These lists include individuals and legal entities, as well as foreign companies that support the military-industrial complex of the Russian Federation. However, experts call the American package the most serious in terms of consequences.
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