Kyrgyz banks stop operations with cards of Russian payment system Mir

Kyrgyz banks have stopped conducting transactions with cards of the Russian payment system Mir, CJSC Interbank Processing Center of Kyrgyzstan, which is the operator of the national payment system Elcart, reported on its website, Azernews reports, citing TASS.

According to the statement, from 12:00 local time (09:00 a.m. Moscow time, 06:00 a.m. GMT) on April 3, the following operations are no longer available for users of Mir cards: card services in acquiring devices (non-cash payments in POS terminals and cash withdrawals from ATMs), transfers from card to card, e-commerce, Internet payments from cards to accounts of trade and service enterprises.

The processing center recalled that in February of this year, the division of the US Treasury Department responsible for control of foreign assets imposed sanctions against the National Payment Card System (NSPK), the card operator of the Mir payment system. In order to "minimize the risk of secondary sanctions," the Kyrgyz side was then forced to make a decision to refuse to carry out transactions with Mir cards on the territory of the republic.

The National Bank of Kyrgyzstan told TASS that they do not have the authority to interfere with the work of commercial banks on such issues, and assured that banks have the right to independently decide which payment system they work with and which not.

Banks in Kyrgyzstan began refusing to service Mir cards last autumn due to the threat of coming under Western sanctions. In September-November 2023, 10 out of 22 Kyrgyz commercial banks suspended transactions with Mir cards but some of them later abandoned this decision.

There are no branches of Russian banks or their subsidiaries in Kyrgyzstan.