MasterCard and Visa: Russian financial institutions are closed

Credit card providers Mastercard and Visa are also quickly implementing sanctions against Russia. They excluded a number of Russian financial institutions from their payment system – with immediate consequences for customers.

American credit card providers Mastercard and Visa exclude a number of Russian financial institutions from their payment network. They justified this step by complying with state sanctions against Russia after its attack on Ukraine.

Mastercard said the company will work with regulators to fully comply with the obligations. Visa announced that it is also prepared to apply other possible sanctions.

Sanctions have an impact on the financial markets

Like the European Union countries, the United States has imposed sanctions on Russian and Russian banks and financial institutions. This also includes the exclusion of certain financial institutions from the SWIFT system.

This not only led to the depreciation of the national currency, the ruble. On Sunday and Monday, long queues of customers who wanted to withdraw cash formed in front of the ATMs of Russian banks. And according to reports, those with international bank accounts also ran into problems: it seemed that their Visa and MasterCard credit cards were no longer accepted.