Visa and Mastercard announced Saturday they will stop all credit card transactions connected with Russian clients and financial institutions in the upcoming days over the deadly invasion of Ukraine following a plea made by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to members of the Senate earlier in the day.
“We are compelled to act following Russia’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine, and the unacceptable events that we have witnessed,” Al Kelly, chairman and chief executive officer of Visa Inc., said in a press release posted on Business Wire.
“We regret the impact this will have on our valued colleagues, and on the clients, partners, merchants, and cardholders we serve in Russia. This war and the ongoing threat to peace and stability demand we respond in line with our values.”
The credit card giant said this means that effective immediately, Visa will be working with clients and partners inside of Russia to stop all Visa transactions, including through merchants and ATMs.
Once complete, all transactions that are initiated with Visa cards that were issued in Russia will no longer work outside the country, and cards that were issued by financial institutions outside of Russia will not work within the Russian Federation, the company said.
Mastercard, in a separate statement Saturday, said they are also ceasing all operations in Russia over the invasion.
Visa, Mastercard Stopping All Russian Transactions | Newsmax.com
Excellent move, men will be delighted……
in re AMEXCO https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/american-express-halts-relationships-with-russia-bank-partners/ar-AAUuko6
Col. Lang,
The Russian Central Bank said that local banks would move to UnionPay, the Chinese system. Apparently some Russian banks already use it.
The Russians are going to become dependent on the Chinese for the foreseeable future.
– Eliot
The biggest credit card is called Mir, it’s Russian, issued by the Central Bank. Just part of what will be a major disengagement from the West.
Apparently Visa & Mastercard had to post a $3 billion dollar bond to get back into the Russian market after the last time they pulled out due to sanctions (so say goodbye to that)
Also they have their own payment systems – Mir I believe the main one is called, but the Chinese will do well for international transactions.
China’s equivalent just gained 100,000,000 new customers. I wonder what these companies will do when China moves on Taiwan.
More of the moralizing and virtue signaling that has increasingly been on display from big corporations. It’s another disturbing aspect of the metastazing globalist fascist borg . Sometimes Russians are the target, sometimes it’s Canadian truckers, sometimes it’s white people, sometimes police. Tomorrow it could be you.
Also, what’s with all of this collective punishment (of all Russians in this case)? The banks are doing it and the US govt is doing it. Since when is collective punishment OK?
“Tomorrow it could be you.“
Yes indeed. It has happened already. Take an unproven medical procedure or kiss your job goodbye. Dissent against government authoritarianism and have your bank account frozen. Have your assets seized with no due process because you’re “suspected” of illegal activity. Have a secret FISA court approve a fraudulent application and have all aspects of your and your friends and families lives surveilled. Rooskie the new Jap. Parents questioning what their kids are being taught labeled domestic terrorists. Anyone questioning the basis of covidian policies labeled as purveyors of misinformation and canceled and slandered personally.
What is interesting is that our government is eroding constitutionally protected rights and due process routinely and escalating repression but the majority are caught up in the distraction du jour. I’m just in awe at the seamless transition from the covidian emergency to now the Ukrainian emergency and how the propaganda machine can operate 24×7 in unison without skipping a beat.
Sam,
Government, media, big corporations are all the same; different tentacles of the same giant octopus; an octopus who’s master plan for us remains opaque, but obviously is not our best interest as a self-governing free people.
I don’t understand why I should care about Ukraine. Our own country – its Constitution and way of life – is just about lost to the globalist fascist force(s) that hate Putin.
“We are compelled to act following Russia’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine,” Al Kelly, chairman and chief executive officer of Visa Inc., said in a press release.
Reality:
“A laptop was found on a hastily abandoned military base in Ukraine, which is registered with NATO. On it are data of American reconnaissance flights carried out over the Donbass and Crimea with unmanned drones in recent years (officially confirmed). … Military strategic objects of Russia and the Donbass were marked on the maps created with these data. There are said to be attack plans for March 8 on the laptop.”
The Russians have preempted the attack.
EPOCH Times – March 3, 2022 already reported on Russia’s banking shift to China. Seems a logical extension to move into this major economic base, due to their renewed partnership with China as a trading and defense partner.
Was cutting off Russia’s western credit cards one of Kamala Harris’s Mother of All Sanctions that she threatened would bring Russia to her knees. (Pardon the imagery.)
https://twitter.com/juliaioffe/status/1500541991129600001?s=21
It appears for now that some of the sanctions are theater designed for PR. The SWIFT inter-bank messaging sanction does not apply to energy transactions. So when Shell bought Urals crude at a substantial discount to Brent in a nice arbitrage trade that transaction could have cleared through SWIFT messaging. Then you have BP exiting their Russian JV. So BP shareholders (mostly pension funds and mutual funds) take a hit in the equity impairment the buyer of the BP stake likely a Russian oligarch gets assets at a substantial discount.
Nike, Apple, et al not selling their products means that the Chinese can sell near equivalent products from the same factories that manufacture the branded products with much less competition.
Dunno how it all works out in a year but IMO there’s more kabuki than meets the eye. Wall St clearly believes that as they’re swooping in to buy Russian distressed debt. They never let a crisis go to waste. Whatcha think happens when Larry Fink owns a boat load of Russian credit?
I wouldn’t say it is kabuki, some obviously realised the damage and tried to mitigate it, but it hasn’t worked. Wheat can’t be shipped out of Russia and the Ukraine, supply chains have collapsed.
Russia defaulting on their debts caused the collapse of LTCM. I read the Federal Reserve were not consulted, I expect this is accurate.
Quote “ Once complete, all transactions that are initiated with Visa cards that were issued in Russia will no longer work outside the country, and cards that were issued by financial institutions outside of Russia will not work within the Russian Federation, the company said.”
Does that mean Visa cards issued within Russia and used within Russia will continue to work ? If so will the bond be forfeit ?
Do they still have to pay their outstanding credit card bill? How would that be done?
JohnB,
I don’t know about the bond, but Russian Visa cards will continue to work inside of Russia, until the cards hit their expiration.
– Eliot
I don’t want war with Russia, and I don’t want war with China. I’d rather we combine our scientific/industrial might to clean up space debris, clean up the pollution on Earth, establish a colony on Luna and fend off, capture and mine asteroids, but if we fight, then I don’t need anyone to tell me what I’m about – USA/veteran.
Michelin shuts down production at factories as raw materials are unavailable, except their Moscow factory.
https://www.usinenouvelle.com/article/crise-en-ukraine-deja-quatre-sites-michelin-a-l-arret-en-france.N1790842
This is the difference between Europe and Russia, availability of commodities is vital, not just cheap energy.