“Mir Supreme” will be left on the commission – Newspaper Kommersant No. 6 (7451) dated 01/16/2023
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This year, the Mir payment system (PS) is implementing a program to significantly reduce commissions for a number of trade and service segments. For a number of them, it is set at a minimum level of 0.5%, close to the tariff of the fast payment system (FPS). At the same time, the Mir Supreme premium card was withdrawn from the special program, the commission for which remained at the maximum level. Experts believe that the policy of the payment system will push banks to more actively promote this particular card.
Since January 1, the National Payment Card System (NSPK) has significantly reduced the interbank commission for several categories of trade and service enterprises (TSP) at once, which the acquiring bank pays to the issuing bank (interchange) when paying with Mir cards.
So, for catering enterprises with a transaction amount of up to 1 thousand rubles. it will be 0.5%, and over 1 thousand rubles – 1.65% (see Kommersant dated November 21, 2022). In addition, interchange became from 0.8% to 1% for a number of merchant categories, including communication services (MCC code 4814), air (3000–3350, 4511) and rail (4112) transportation, clothing (5641, 5651 , 5691, 5699), children’s toys (5945) and a variety of home and renovation goods (5200, 5261, 5712). In the amount of 1.4%, the commission is determined for food products – supermarkets and department stores (5411) and other food stores (5422, 5441, 5451, 5462, 5499).
According to the head of the board of the Financial Innovations Association (AFI) Roman Prokhorov, this tariff modification is one of the steps towards the “correct positioning” of Mir cards and SBP. “Standard debit and payment cards with low and potentially zero interchanges are moving closer in economic model to FBPs when customer loyalty is shifted to merchants,” he explains.
According to Interfax, as of December 1, 2022, more than 170 million Mir cards were issued. In 2022, banks issued almost 60 million cards. According to the results of the third quarter of 2022, the Mir PS became the largest in terms of transaction volumes, its share in the total volume of payments for goods and services amounted to 38.8%.
But there is one notable exception to the interchange reduction program – the new commissions do not apply to Mir Supreme cards. This card is the only premium product of the Mir payment system, and the commission for it remained at the maximum level of 2.35%.
As a source in the banking market told Kommersant, NSPK explains the removal of Mir Supreme cards from special programs by two considerations. Firstly, the premium card itself is quite expensive for both banks and customers, in order to be able to develop it and promote it to the market, it is necessary to give banks the opportunity to earn on it. Secondly, the program of increased cashback (5%) on Mir Supreme cards in the category of restaurants is ending. According to Kommersant’s interlocutor, the program itself is planned to be continued, but the NSPK intends to change the category. The exclusion of the Mir Supreme card from promotions for a reduced interchange makes it possible to choose any popular category of merchants, for which it will be possible to introduce an increased cashback.
At the same time, according to Dmitry Vishnyakov, an independent expert on the payment card market, the card premium is primarily determined by the components that form the PS, such as concierge service, access to business lounges, insurance, etc. “These expenses are covered not by interchange, but by the investments of the PS operator, so it will be available to any issuing bank,” he explains. Today, according to the expert, premium products are mainly financed by banks, which makes them limited in use, since it is problematic for one bank to establish special conditions only for its cards. With such a high interchange for Mir Supreme cards, in his opinion, many banks will try to promote this particular product, which will bring maximum income to the issuer, but not necessarily any privileges to holders.
A similar story has already happened with premium cards of international payment systems – at some point the interchange for them was significantly higher than for ordinary cards, and a number of large banks transferred almost all their emissions to platinum cards. According to market participants, as a result, banks received an increased interchange for some time, but the card itself ceased to be elite.
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