Gref announced plans to create an alternative to Mir card operator – Kommersant

The head of Sberbank German Gref said that financial market participants are discussing the possibility of creating an alternative for the Mir card operator to the National Payment Card System (NPCS). According to him, there are no specific plans yet, but market participants are aware that competition is needed in this area.

“If we want to give further dynamic acceleration to the development of payment instruments, of course, we need competition. We discuss it with market participants: two are always better than one,” Mr. Gref said in an interview. RBC.

Mr. Gref, in a conversation with RBC, suggested several options for the development of events. In his opinion, “it would be nice if NSPK changed its status or was sold to market participants, or, in the end, another market player appeared.” He noted that this would allow comparing the quality of services and influence pricing.

German Gref added that it is hardly possible to create a new payment system within Sberbank. “For this, you still need the consent of market participants and the consent of the state, because now many mechanisms have already been created for one player,” he said.

In the spring of 2022, after the start of Russia’s military operation in Ukraine, the international payment systems Visa and Mastercard left Russia. Now payments in Russia are provided by NSPK, which operates the Mir payment system.

Olesya Pavlenko