Two Russia Banks Hit by US Sanctions Say Cards Services Restored

By Alexander Kolyandr

MOSCOW--Two of the three Russian banks whose cards operations were blocked by international payment systems companies Visa Inc. (V) and MasterCard Inc. (MA) on Friday due to U.S. sanctions said Sunday that the issue has been resolved.

Visa and Mastercard said Friday that they had stopped servicing Bank Rossiya after the U.S. placed sanctions against it in connection with the annexation of Crimea. The payment systems also ceased servicing three further banks connected with Bank Rossiya and the people mentioned in the sanctions--Sobinbank, InvestCapital Bank and SMP Bank.

InvestCapital Bank and SMP Bank said Sunday that both Visa and MasterCard have renewed servicing the banks' cards.

SMP said on its website Sunday that MasterCard cards are working and Visa cards will be serviceable by the end of the day. "The validity of Mastercard cards is fully restored, transactions with Visacards will begin within a few hours as long as communications channels are adjusted and equipment settings are updated," SMP Bank said.

InvestCapital Bank's customer service said both types of the cards will be serviceable by Monday morning in full, when "software is reset."

Visa and MasterCard weren't available for immediate confirmation or comment.

However, customer services of Bank Rossiya and its subsidiary Sobinbank said their cards still aren't serviceable by the international payment systems.

The holders of these banks' cards can't pay for goods and services using their cards, but can use the cards to withdraw cash from the bank's ATMs or ATMs of other Russian banks serviced by the United Payment Service, also known as ORS, a national net which unifies dozens of banks.

Write to Alexander Kolyandr at [e-mail]

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