China’s largest credit card brand UnionPay has reportedly suspended its negotiations with Russian banks on issuing new bank cards for their customers over fear of Western sanctions. According to The Moscow Times, the Chinese credit processor has recently halted talks with some major Russian lenders, including Sberbank, Russia’s largest bank by assets, due to concerns…

Russia is turning to microchip manufactures in China to circumvent western sanctions which have boosted demand for bank cards linked to the Mir payment system, an executive with the domestic payment system said. Western sanctions imposed on Russia over its invasion of Ukraine have cut Moscow off the global financial system and from nearly half…

Ukraine’s Vice Prime Minister Mykhailo Fedorov has urged China’s state-owned UnionPay to align with global sanctions and cut ties with Russia. “Russian money is bloody! It helps Russian missiles attack dwelling houses, kindergartens, and hospitals in Ukraine, and kill civilians!” Fedorov posted in Chinese on Twitter on March 12, calling on UnionPay International (UPI), a…

LONDON—Credit cards issued by Russian banks using the Visa and Mastercard payment systems will stop functioning overseas after March 9, Russia’s central bank said on Sunday, adding that some local lenders would look to use China’s UnionPay system instead. Russian-issued Mastercard and Visa cards would be accepted within Russia until their expiry, the bank said,…