Key Takeaways
- Citing system costs, the Bank of Russia wants Visa and Mastercard to fully exit as their market share dropped below 17%.
- As cashless payments hit 88%, Ilya Grashchenkov expects a calm, disruption-free market shift.
- Experts point out that Russia will calmly transition users to its Mir system, which issued 476.5M cards by Jan 2026.
Mastercard and Visa Card Adoption Falls Under 17% in Russia
While Mastercard and Visa hold more than three-quarters of the international credit card market, the two companies announced their exit from the Russian market in 2022, in compliance with global sanctions.
On Monday, Alla Bakina, Director of the Bank of Russia’s National Payment System Department, revealed the institution’s stance on the impaired operation of these companies in the Russian market. According to Russian news agency TASS, Bakina stressed that Mastercard and Visa should “leave our market because they no longer carry out or provide the functionality they always ensured, while the National Payment Card System continues to bear the costs of supporting these cards.”
Bakina also revealed that Visa’s and Mastercard’s share in the payments market had been reduced to less than 17%. “The people had a sizable number of cards but the share of these instruments declined in the market during four-five years. The banks are performing the gradual substitution by other instruments, including Mir cards,” she declared.
“Our payment market continues to demonstrate its resilience and a high level of adaptation to all the challenges facing our economy, society and economic entities. We see that the share of cashless payments remains at a consistently high level,” Bakina concluded.
Nevertheless, this does not mean that these companies will be expelled from the country. Head of the Center for Regional Policy Development, Ilya Grashchenkov, stated that this will likely result in a “calm phased transition – without loss of funds, without payment disruptions, and without the need to urgently rush to the bank.”
In addition, Stolypin Institute for Growth Economics expert Sergey Vasilkovsky believes the measure will improve the safety of the national payment system, as Visa and Mastercard cards that still operate in the country are operating beyond their expiration, justifying a transition to Mir cards.
According to the central bank, the Mir card system, established in 2014, had issued over 476.5 million cards as of January 2026, with discussions to extend it to other countries. For 2025, the share of cashless payments in retail turnover was on 88%.