Russian banks mull China UnionPay; big accounting firms exit
Last edited Mon Mar 7, 2022, 02:19 PM - Edit history (1)
Source: AP
LONDON (AP) Leading Russian banks are looking into using a Chinese payment rival after Visa and Mastercard suspended operations, while all the big global accounting firms said they would pull out of Russia in the latest corporate fallout over the invasion of Ukraine.
Ernst & Young and Deloitte cut ties Monday with their operations in Russia, both saying they would work to support thousands of colleagues who will be affected. Ernst & Young cited what it called the shocking and abhorrent war in Ukraine, and Deloitte also said it would exit Moscow-allied Belarus.
KPMG and PricewaterhouseCoopers, the other so-called Big Four accounting firms, announced their exits from Russia a day earlier.
A host of foreign companies have suspended financial services in Russia as well as major brands from Apple to Shell and Ikea as part of a larger move by the West to isolate Russia and cut it off from the global financial system. Visa, Mastercard and American Express withdrew their services over the weekend.
Original story: Russian banks consider China UnionPay cards after sanctions
LONDON (AP) Leading Russian banks are looking into issuing cards that operate on a Chinese payment system after Visa and Mastercard said they would cut their services in Russia over the invasion of Ukraine.
Sberbank and Tinkoff Bank said Sunday that they are considering the possibility of payment cards powered by Chinas UnionPay system. Sberbank, Russias largest bank, said it would announce the launch date later.
Sberbank and Tinkoff told users that they will be able to use Visa and Mastercard for transactions within Russia but they will stop working for payments outside of the country after Wednesday.
The Russian central bank warned Sunday that all cards using the Visa or Mastercard systems will stop working for both purchases on foreign websites and transactions abroad.
FILE - This April 22, 2005, file photo, shows logos for MasterCard and Visa credit cards at the entrance of a New York coffee shop. Mastercard and Visa are suspending their operations in Russia, the companies said Saturday, March 5, 2022, in the latest blow to the country's financial system after its invasion of Ukraine. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan, File)
Read more: https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-technology-business-europe-china-f294a464b81829a680a539578da70da1
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Walleye
(30,723 posts)Obvious85
(258 posts)Will be China's UnionPay motto if they do this
OneCrazyDiamond
(2,029 posts)They don't want the global community looking at them.
roamer65
(36,739 posts)bluewater
(5,376 posts)They want their currency to replace the dollar as the world's reserve currency used in global trade.
China is overjoyed by VISA and Mastercard cutting off Russia, it's simply more business for them.
Welcome to the multi-polar world.
cstanleytech
(26,080 posts)If its due to the stuff they sell to people in the US then perhaps its time for legislation that encourages manufactures to produce most of the products they want to sell in the US inside the US.
bluewater
(5,376 posts)And isn't what you are suggesting very similar to the MAGA economic message Trump was spouting?
Putting up barriers to global trade is fraught with retaliatory issues, but, hey, good luck pursuing that.
myohmy2
(3,118 posts)...any company or country that does business with Russia does limited business with us and the West?
...or, let's see how hard the profit seeking Chinese grab those Russian balls and squeeze...
...Ooh...