PaymentsSource

Alfa-Bank and Rosbank earlier this month merged their ATM networks as the Russian financial institutions looked to compete with Sberbank, the country’s largest bank. The merged network has more than 5,500 ATMs in 539 cities and towns. Customers of the two banks now may use either bank’s ATMs without paying a surcharge fee and without […]

The Russian credit card market grew to 422.9 billion rubles (US $13.4 billion) in receivables in the first quarter of this year, up 79% from 235.8 million rubles during the same period last year, with more than 14.5 million credit cards in circulation, according to a new research report released late last month by Russia’s

The Russian credit card market grew to 422.9 billion rubles (US $13.4 billion) in receivables in the first quarter of this year, up 79% from 235.8 million rubles during the same period last year, with more than 14.5 million credit cards in circulation, according to a new research report released late last month by Russia’s

All of Russia’s Auchan hypermarkets will deploy Ingenico payment terminals by the end of 2012, the global payment technology vendor announced Jan. 24. Auchan selected Ingenico’s iSC250 terminals, and 1,700 had been deployed as of last month in 22 hypermarkets. Terms were not disclosed. The terminals allow customers to use a touchscreen to sign for

Alfa-Bank has received Russia’s first certification for Visa Inc.’s payWave contactless-payment platform for credit and debit cards. The issuer is using the payWave function in its classic, gold, platinum and platinum black credit cards and in its debit cards, but not cobranded or customized cards, according to the bank. Each card includes both the contactless

MasterCard Worldwide has signed a letter of intent with Russian cell-phone carrier Mobile TeleSystems to bring PayPass contactless-payment functionality to Russian mobile data only sim phones, the card brand announced Oct. 28. Mobile TeleSystems, which will offer SIM cards embedded with PayPass functionality, demonstrated the technology at the Rosnanotech 2011 conference. It is the first

ZAO Citibank has launched a free service that enables Moscow residents to pay their city real-estate, telephone and energy bills automatically by billing to their Citibank debit or credit card accounts, the Moscow-based company announced Oct. 17. The Russian bank has offered online bill-payment services since 2007, but the new service connects directly with the

Japanese conglomerate Mitsui & Co. Ltd. has acquired 14.9% stake in Qiwi Ltd., a Russian company registered in Cyprus that specializes in instant-payment kiosks, the two companies announced Jan. 18.

Russian credit cardholders will spend 10% more this month on their holiday spending compared with what they spent last December, ZAO Citibank predicts in a Dec. 13 report.

The 258 McDonald’s restaurants in Russia now accept bankcards, the fast-food provider’s acquirer Russian Standard Bank announced Dec. 13.

Russian Standard Bank has become the first European bank to offer person-to-person funds transfers through MasterCard Worldwide’s MoneySend platform, the companies announced Dec. 6.