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AmEx Not Welcomed in Russia
Starting from today, the cards of AmEx will be rejected in quite a number of outlets in Russia. The reason is the failure of country’s banks and processing firms to agree with Russian Standard Bank, the owner of exclusive rights for acquiring AmEx cards, RBC Daily reported.
United Card Service, UCS, that controls over 50 percent of Russia’s acquiring market stopped accepting AmEx cards yesterday. Compass Plus and Expobank that works with 80 percent of premium restaurants in Moscow will follow the UCS example in September. Other big retail banks would join the league should negotiations with Russian Standard bear no fruit.
Overall, roughly 200 big retail outlets that used to accept AmEx cards refused to cooperate with Russian Standard Bank, according to newspaper. An AmEx delegation visited Russia to sort out the difficulties and negotiated with representatives of the country’s acquiring business.
In Russian Standard, however, they see no reason for pessimism. “Should the banks refuse to proceed with cooperation, Russian Standard has enough resources to ensure acceptance of AmEx cards by trading firms all over the country,” said Artem Lebedev, who heads the PR department in Russian Standard.
www.kommersant.com
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Photo: Nikolay Cyiganov