Russia’s card payment system Mir, which was established in 2015 following West-imposed sanctions on Moscow, is now linked to Apple Pay, the card issuer said on Tuesday.
More than 95 million Mir cards have been issued by Russia’s National Card Payment System (NSPK), accounting for about a third of Russia’s card market, which was previously the international payment system Visa (VN) and MasterCard (MA.N). There was dominance.
Mir has been part of Moscow’s efforts to develop domestic financial tools to reflect the Western world, which still operates in Russia, to protect the country in the event of sanctions becoming widespread.
Apple Pay started operating in Russia in 2016 and now has more than 20 million users. The service is available to customers of eight banks, including major Russian lenders such as Sberbank (SBER.MM), VTB (VTBR.MM) and Tinkoff (TCSq.L).
“Several other banks are preparing to join,” the NSPK said in a statement to Businesshala.
Apple did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment.
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