MasterCard suspends all services in Russia • Hacker News Board

Re: MasterCard suspends all services in Russia

#41

Post by 323 » Sat, Mar 05, 2022, 11:11 PM UTC

assusdan wrote: post #10

samwillis wrote: post #5

Mirror: https://archive.ph/d5RmA (was down) Key passage: “ With this action, cards issued by Russian banks will no longer be supported by the Mastercard network. And, any Mastercard issued outside of the country will not work at Russian merchants or ATMs.” I don’t believe it’s clear that cards issued in Russia are not still being accepted within Russia. Which is what I believe Visa is still doing: “ all transactions…

In Russia, all country-local Visa and MasterCard payments are processed by country-owned NSPK system https://nspk.com So all local payments will work, but no abroad payments (and no foreign cards to pay locally in Russia). Probably, I will lost most of my cloud data and compute resources incl. VPNs. Fortunately, some providers do accept SWIFT payments.

Do the providers accept ruble? My understanding is that foreign currency transfers to outside was banned (capital control).

Re: MasterCard suspends all services in Russia

#42

Post by cm2187 » Sat, Mar 05, 2022, 11:13 PM UTC

323 wrote: post #2

Visa too: > Visa Suspends All Russia Operations https://usa.visa.com/about-visa/newsroom/press-releases.rele... MasterCard/Visa cards issued in Russia will not work abroad, cards issued abroad will not work in Russia. > MasterCard/Visa account for three-quarters of payments in Russia https://twitter.com/spectatorindex/status/150023911662537932...

And paypal this morning too [1]

It does feel coordinated. I know corporate law is kind of irrelevant in a context of war, but it feels more than ever like a cartel.

[1] https://www.reuters.com/business/paypal-shuts-down-its-servi...

Re: MasterCard suspends all services in Russia

#43

Post by londons_explore » Sat, Mar 05, 2022, 11:13 PM UTC

assusdan wrote: post #10

samwillis wrote: post #5

Mirror: https://archive.ph/d5RmA (was down) Key passage: “ With this action, cards issued by Russian banks will no longer be supported by the Mastercard network. And, any Mastercard issued outside of the country will not work at Russian merchants or ATMs.” I don’t believe it’s clear that cards issued in Russia are not still being accepted within Russia. Which is what I believe Visa is still doing: “ all transactions…

In Russia, all country-local Visa and MasterCard payments are processed by country-owned NSPK system https://nspk.com So all local payments will work, but no abroad payments (and no foreign cards to pay locally in Russia). Probably, I will lost most of my cloud data and compute resources incl. VPNs. Fortunately, some providers do accept SWIFT payments.

You can always ask to borrow someone's card who doesn't live in Russia...

Re: MasterCard suspends all services in Russia

#44

Post by toyg » Sat, Mar 05, 2022, 11:14 PM UTC

qznc wrote: post #34

unpopularq88 wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Quoted post unavailable.

They worked for years towards becoming a EU member. Putin wants to turn them back into a puppet state for "his sovjet union".

The saddest thing really is that it was all for nought - the EU won't allow any new members for a generation or more, as it tries to complete the scalable political and economic infrastructure it already needs to work with 27 unruly members. Be it Ukraine, Turkey, Serbia, or whichever - nobody is getting in anytime soon, and making sacrifices towards that objective is delusional.

Re: MasterCard suspends all services in Russia

#45

Post by textech » Sat, Mar 05, 2022, 11:14 PM UTC

I guess this will just accelerate adoption of China's UnionPay or their homegrown MIR.

Re: MasterCard suspends all services in Russia

#46

Post by agumonkey » Sat, Mar 05, 2022, 11:14 PM UTC

grandpoobah wrote: post #20

Call me insane, but this feels insane. It would be one thing if Visa/Mastercard were being forced to do this, but for them to take it upon themselves to "pick a side" during a global conflict feels really wrong.

slight counterpoint: not taking sides allows for aggressors to hold their foot in the door

Re: MasterCard suspends all services in Russia

#47

Post by laluser » Sat, Mar 05, 2022, 11:15 PM UTC

DarkmSparks wrote: post #30

hadrien01 wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Russia has a home-grown card payment network (Mir) that accounts for 25% of payments. It will probably grow because of the sanctions. Edit: 25% might be false. Maybe 25% of cards are Mir-only? I'd appreciate if any Russian could chime in to clarify the percentages.

Which, tbh, was pretty much the stated intention before starting the conflict - cut off the new superpowers and their historic satellite states dependence on [insolvent] western financiers.

Rip the band-aid off and take some hairs with it!

Re: MasterCard suspends all services in Russia

#48

Post by mda » Sat, Mar 05, 2022, 11:15 PM UTC

cm2187 wrote: post #42

323 wrote: post #2

Visa too: > Visa Suspends All Russia Operations https://usa.visa.com/about-visa/newsroom/press-releases.rele... MasterCard/Visa cards issued in Russia will not work abroad, cards issued abroad will not work in Russia. > MasterCard/Visa account for three-quarters of payments in Russia https://twitter.com/spectatorindex/status/150023911662537932...

And paypal this morning too [1] It does feel coordinated. I know corporate law is kind of irrelevant in a context of war, but it feels more than ever like a cartel. [1] https://www.reuters.com/business/paypal-shuts-down-its-servi...

Maybe they just have common sense.

Re: MasterCard suspends all services in Russia

#49

Post by nickysielicki » Sat, Mar 05, 2022, 11:15 PM UTC

It's hard for me to imagine a scenario where these sanctions (not just Mastercard and Visa, but all of it as a whole) are reduced without a total regime change in Russia. This is becoming a massive divestment, and I'm not sure it's a great idea.

There's no guarantee that what replaces Putin is going to be more Western and not reactionary. For every Russian that is cosmopolitan and globalist, there's a dozen Russians in small villages that are True Believers and will see this foreign pressure for what it is: replacing a Russian president that, at least in their mind, they put there.

Even if you assume that it's going to be a democratic and Western government that rises from the ashes, I think the timescale for this is in years, not months, and I think that the impact on the average citizen in The West is going to be massive while we wait that out.

I paid north of $80 last night for 18 gallons of fuel, and it's only going to get worse. In Europe, they're staring down the barrel of a significant energy crisis next winter. Energy is everything: it's fertilizer and it's heat. And this is all on the tail of record inflation and a shaky economy.

Hot take: I think this is going to backfire and we're going to see destabilization in Europe and America before Putin is ousted. War tends to be a boon for the economy in the West, but I see good reason why this time could be different.

Re: MasterCard suspends all services in Russia

#50

Post by alkonaut » Sat, Mar 05, 2022, 11:15 PM UTC

cm2187 wrote: post #42

323 wrote: post #2

Visa too: > Visa Suspends All Russia Operations https://usa.visa.com/about-visa/newsroom/press-releases.rele... MasterCard/Visa cards issued in Russia will not work abroad, cards issued abroad will not work in Russia. > MasterCard/Visa account for three-quarters of payments in Russia https://twitter.com/spectatorindex/status/150023911662537932...

And paypal this morning too [1] It does feel coordinated. I know corporate law is kind of irrelevant in a context of war, but it feels more than ever like a cartel. [1] https://www.reuters.com/business/paypal-shuts-down-its-servi...

In this context when one actor pulls out, the eyes turn on the others who either pull out or will have to accept being seen as supporting the regime. The coordination doesn’t have to exist for it to look coordinated. No one wants to be seen as late to leave.