Visa, Mastercard: Won't Block Access to Clients at Russian Banks Despite US, EU Sanctions

By Olga Razumovskaya

MOSCOW--Visa Inc. (V) and MasterCard Inc. (MA) said Wednesday they will not block access to debit and credit card services for clients at Russian banks which were sanctioned by the United States and the European Union on Tuesday.

Both companies issued statements saying that the new round of tougher sanctions by the West on Russia will have no effect on their business in the country or have any impact on those banks' clients.

"Today's actions are specific to certain banks' access to the U.S. capital market. They do not impact our business," a spokesperson for MasterCard said. Visa also said in its statement that it's "operating as usual."

The U.S. placed Russia's second-biggest lender VTB Group, as well as the Bank of Moscow and the Russian Agricultural Bank on the sanctions list Tuesday. The EU has also slapped Russian banks with sanctions that would make it difficult for state-owned Russian banks to raise capital on European markets.