Most Armenian banks to stop accepting Russian Mir cards

A representative of VTB Armenia Bank (a subsidiary of Russia's VTB) told RBC that as of March 30, 2024, the majority of Armenian banks will no longer accept cards from the Russian payment system Mir. A source in the Russian payments market confirmed this information to the publication.

"From March 30, users will not be able to make cashless payments at POS terminals and withdraw cash from ATMs of other banks in the republic. The work of VTB Armenia cards will not be affected in any way," a representative of VTB's Armenian subsidiary told RBC. He said that VTB Armenia will continue to fully service Mir cards.

On February 23, the US imposed sanctions on the National Payment Card System (NPCS), which operates Mir. NPCS said that these sanctions will not affect its domestic payment services, and its payment system will not be restricted in its work with foreign partners. Foreign banks will decide independently whether to accept Mir cards, the NSPC added.

On February 27, Kazakhstan's Freedom Finance Bank banned money transfers using Mir cards. In March, Kazakhstan's Bereke Bank, formerly a subsidiary of Sber in Kazakhstan, announced that it had stopped working with Mir cards.