Banks in Kyrgyzstan have stopped servicing Mir cards – Kommersant

In order to avoid secondary US sanctions, Kyrgyz banks stopped servicing Russian Mir cards. About it reported at the Interbank Processing Center. At the same time, the possibility of transfers between banks in Russia and Kyrgyzstan will remain after the Mir cards are disabled, the press service of the Kyrgyz National Bank told TASS.

From April 3, 2024, from 12:00 (Bishkek time), the following will become unavailable to users: servicing Mir cards in acquiring devices (non-cash payments at POS terminals and cash withdrawals at ATMs); transfers from card to card; e-commerce, in particular Internet payments from cards to the accounts of trade and service enterprises.

“The National Bank does not interfere in the current activities of banks, non-banking financial and credit organizations and other legal entities supervised by the National Bank, except in cases provided for by this constitutional Law and the legislation of the Kyrgyz Republic,” the press service of the National Bank of Kyrgyzstan told RIA Novosti . Thus, commercial banks and payment organizations in the country, taking into account the risk assessment, must independently make a decision to terminate the service of Mir cards.

At the same time, transfers between banks in Russia and Kyrgyzstan are still carried out through mobile applications in the presence of direct contractual relations between them, as well as through money transfer systems without opening an account.

OFAC (Office of Foreign Assets Control – a division of the US Treasury) imposed sanctions against the Russian National Payment Card System (NSCP JSC), the card operator of the Mir payment system, on February 23, 2024. After this, a number of countries stopped accepting Mir cards.

More details in the material “Closed World”.

Anastasia Larina