Russia will create own payment system

After the RF has co-opted half-island Crimea, financial system of the country feels increased pressured. The talk about sanctions and their imminent tightening excite the market. Limitations have reached those regions, which must be out of politics. So recently the leading payment systems in the world Visa and MasterCard (which belong to commercial companies) have withdrawn services of several Russian banks (including «AB «ROSSIYA», «Sobinbank»), put in the sanctions list of the Administration of the USA. These credit institutions are inside the top 100 of the largest banks, there are many our fellow citizens and legal entities among their clients. It has become apparent that the situation, when there is no own processing centre and payment system in such large economics, endangers national security.

The talk about practical realization of settlements domestically, based on national payment system, has long been having. In 2011 the Federal law «About national payment system» was adopted, which regulates the order of rendering of payment services, including remittance, using of electronic payment facilities, activity of subjects of national payment system, and also sets requirements to organizations and working of payment systems, regulatory regime and supervision in national payment system.

In the beginning of April, immediately after later limitations affected the banking system, the President V.V. Putin has demanded from financial management and the Head of the Central bank to make all reasonable efforts and report about results within a month: how will the banks realize the national payment system (NPS) in practical part, implementation phases, start data in test and real mode and other focused questions.

The Central bank has organized a working group on creation of NPS, the largest Russian banks and banking associations have joined it: «Sberbank» (Savings bank), «Bank Moskvy» (Bank of Moscow), «Uralsib», «VTB 24», «Gazprombank», «Russky standart», «TKS-bank», «Assotsiatsiya rossiiskih bankov» (Association of Russian banks) and «Assotsiatsiya regionalnyh bankov» (Association of regional banks). As examples of what the NPS could look like the Central bank considers the systems «Zolotaya korona», «PRO100» and Union Сard. Bankers could choose one of them or offer another one. For this there will be conducted a poll in the banking community.

At the suggestion of the Head of «Sberbank» German Gref, the NPS can be created on the base of «UEK» OJSC – structure, which serves Russian universal electronic cards, it is possible to solve this task within three months.

Will hope, that in the near future our internal settlements will be protected from external effects by own NPS, which also can enter a world market in the long term, as it was done by Chinese UnionPay.