Russian banks began testing cards for foreign tourists
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Nikita Kondratyev, director of the department of multilateral economic cooperation and special projects of the Russian Ministry of Economic Development, said that Russian banks have begun testing the first cards for non-cash payments by foreign tourists.
“We are now actively working with interested banks. Now banks are starting to create a financial product for foreigners and are already making the first test launches of cards for tourists,” said Mr. Kondratyev during the strategic session of the Russian Union of Travel Industry (quote from “Interfax”).
The director of the department of the Ministry of Economic Development added that the Russian Federation also hopes for the development of Chinese payment systems. According to him, the goal of the authorities is to promote Russia as an attractive tourist destination. In his opinion, the Russian Federation has not reached its potential in this area. As Mr. Kondratyev noted, if earlier an attractive tourist image was formed by individual regions of Russia, now the authorities want to approach this in a comprehensive manner.
In June 2023, the State Duma adopted a bill to launch an electronic card for foreign tourists. The document allows Russian banks to open accounts for foreigners and foreign legal entities without their personal presence or the presence of their representatives. According to the idea of the authors of the initiative, with the help of such a card, foreign tourists will be able to book a tour to Russia, as well as make non-cash payments in the Russian Federation.
In October, the head of the Ministry of Economy, Maxim Reshetnikov, announced that the government was approving a list of 25 countries from which tourists would have the opportunity to remotely open Mir cards in Russian banks. Sberbank’s subsidiary UMoney was the first to launch cards for tourists from abroad. She allowed opening accounts remotely in early December last year.
On January 24, 2024, Vice President of the Association of Banks of Russia (ADB) Alexey Voylukov announced that ADB proposes to simplify the process of identifying foreign citizens to receive Mir tourist cards. Mr. Voylukov explained to Kommersant that according to the current procedure, a foreigner still cannot use the Mir card before arriving in the Russian Federation. He has the opportunity to activate and top up the card only after signing an agreement with a Russian bank.
Read more in Maxim Builov’s column for Kommersant. “The world turned out to not need ”Peace””.
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