Mastercard and Visa block Russian financial institutions

 Mastercard made the announcement on Monday (28 February), stating it had blocked multiple financial institutions from its payment network, adding it would continue to work with regulators in the days ahead to abide fully with its compliance obligations as they evolve. 

Visa, meanwhile, said today (1 March) it’s taking “prompt action” to ensure compliance with applicable sanctions, and is prepared to comply with additional sanctions that may be implemented. 

It comes after a raft of sanctions have been imposed by Western countries on Russian businesses. Over the weekend leaders from the UK, the European Commission, France, Germany, Italy, Canada and the US announced they’d be removing selected Russian banks from the SWIFT messaging system. 

The governments have also committed to imposing restrictive measures that will prevent the Russian Central Bank from deploying its international reserves in ways that could undermine the sanctions. 

On Monday (28 February) the UK government announced further economic sanctions, taking restrictive economic measures targeted at the Central Bank of the Russian Federation (CBR). 

It has said it will take steps to prohibit any UK natural or legal persons from undertaking financial transactions involving the CBR, the Russian National Wealth Fund and the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation.