Visa, Mastercard, And Amex Suspend Operations In Russia

It’s been a topsy-turvy last 10 days in the world, with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine taking centre stage in the news.

Some news over the weekend caught our eye involving the major credit card companies that we thought are worth sharing.

Visa, Mastercard, and American Express suspending operations in Russia

The 3 largest credit card companies in the world have taken the unprecedented step of suspending their operations in Russia:

• Visa,
• Mastercard, and
• American Express.

Like many businesses ceasing to carry out operations in Russia for the time being, Visa, Mastercard, and American Express are doing this on their own accord (Amex is also suspending operations in Belarus). They aren’t doing this due to sanctions that are currently in effect. Rather, this has to do with their company values, and their continued belief that the invasion is a threat to ongoing world peace.

Mastercard and Visa announced their suspensions within 16 minutes of each other on March 5th, with Amex following a day later. Visa and Mastercard announced their suspensions following a conversation they had with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

Neither company is doing this casually, the monetary impact to Mastercard and Visa is real – both companies stated that about 4% of their revenue comes from Russia.

What it means for you

So what does it mean for Canadians? Unless you’re planning on travelling to Russia soon (and the government is advising people not to), not much. All your cards will still work just fine anywhere in the world, except for Russia (and in Belarus with Amex). Obviously if you go to Russia you can forget about any of your credit cards working while you’re there.

The only time you will run into an issue is if you happen to have a credit card from a Russian bank that has a Visa, Mastercard, or Amex logo on it. These cards will no longer work anywhere in the world. If that is the case, you’ll have to start searching for a replacement.

But otherwise, there’s no impact to you at this time.

However, if you have family in Russia, that’s one payment method taken away from them. This news brings with it just one of many things in a long list of financial services Russians no longer have access to.

Your turn

It has certainly been an ugly last 1.5 weeks, but companies are doing what they feel is right by suspending operations in Russia. This is their way of helping end the conflict.

Do you agree with what the credit card companies are doing?

Let us know in the comments below.