Russia to launch national payment system

By Vestnik Kavkaza

The USA launched sanctions against Russian businessmen a few days after the merger of Crimea with Russia. VISA and MasterCard (95% of Russian users of credit cards own their cards) restricted access of four Russian banks to their services. President Vladimir Putin ordered the government and the Central Bank to consider German Gref’s suggestion on building a Russian payment system.

In early April, the State Duma adopted amendments to the law on the national payment system, which is aimed at uninterrupted banking operations in Russia. Now all payment clearing centers and operation centers which provide money transmission should be situated in Russia.

Anatoly Aksakov, the deputy chairman of the Committee for Financial Market, explains that it will secure payments of the Russian citizens who use cards for service and merchandise payments: “All transactions taking place in Russia should be operated in Russia. Information about the transactions, payers, receivers shouldn’t leave the territory of our country. Nobody from abroad will have an opportunity to cut out the system to stop payments through cards of Russian citizens and citizens of other countries on the territory of our country. Any card, VISA, MasterCard, UnionPay, Gold Crown, the Japanese payment card – any card will be used for service and merchandize payments.”

Aksakov noted that “if we have our own national payment card, for example, an all-in-one card, its owner should have an agreement with an international payment system – VISA, MasterCard, UniPay – for people could pay with the card abroad. To be present on the international market with our own card without agreements, we should have a certain volume of the cards. If those who deal with development of the national payment system work well, sometime later our payment instruments can be used abroad.”

Yevgeny Fyodorov, the member of the State Duma Committee for Budget and Taxes, states that “the question of the national payment system is a question of Russia’s independence. It is a political question, a struggle for sovereignty, especially in the context of sanctions.”

Fyodorov is sure that as Russia is attacked by sanctions, the problem of the national payment system has to be solved: “The geopolitical situation has changed – Ukraine, Crimea, and so on. There is an opportunity for providing nationally oriented policy. The other direction of the struggle is rejection of the dollar system by the Russian economy, I mean not only dollar payments, but also accumulation of dollar reserves. Countries with a high level of sovereignty have no such reserves. I mean Central Banks.”

According to Fyodorov, the state policy of establishing national payment centers on the Russian territory should be provided: “For example, you come to a shop and pay, your money goes to America, is operated there and returns to a shop which is in one meter from you. The next question is about competition. This is the market and Russian business will compete for the market in relevant spheres. The task of the state is to establish the national payment system, while national business should use the national payment system instead of VISA, MasterCard which make money in the sphere on the Russian territory.”

A logo of the national payment system could be the ruble’s sign.