Crimean banks are replacing Visa and Mastercard with PRO-100 cards
Moscow - Simferopol, May 16 (Navigator, Mikhail Stamm) - While the Russian authorities are deciding on what basis to build a national payment system throughout the country, this issue has already been resolved in Crimea. The largest bank in the region, RNKB, has begun, and the other two largest players plan to begin issuing bank cards of the PRO 100 system in the foreseeable future, Kommersant reports.
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Now the situation with card payments in the region is difficult. There are only three large banks in Crimea and Sevastopol: RNKB, the Black Sea Bank for Development and Reconstruction (ChBRD) and Morskoy Bank. Moreover, the first one does not have membership in Visa and MasterCard, and the other two, although they issued these cards before, are now unable to service them or issue new ones.
Several Russian banks that have recently entered Crimea and Sevastopol, although they issue Visa and MasterCard cards, are too small to meet demand.
The lack of card payments creates queues and aggravates the situation with the tourist season. “We do not accept any bank cards for payment, payments are only possible in cash,” reported the Radisson Resort & Spa in Alushta.
In order to quickly launch ATMs, RNKB, ChBRR and Morskoy Bank began building an alternative card payment system in the region based on PRO 100 technology. The technology was developed by UEC on the basis of a license agreement with MasterCard. The option to receive such a PRO 100 card is indeed available on the RNKB website in the services section for individuals. The bank confirmed the possibility of its clients receiving such a card (issuance is free, annual maintenance, for example, if the card is issued in Simferopol, is 300 rubles). In the near future, RNKB plans to increase the issue of these cards to 100 thousand pieces, and then to 500 thousand pieces.
However, this does not mean a complete absence of international payment systems in the region. According to the newspaper, RNKB has already applied for membership in Visa and MasterCard. Small Russian banks that have recently entered the region already have these cards. Thus, local and international payment systems will coexist in the region.
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