An American Express card welcome sign is seen above all others.
Photo: AP
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UCS Refuses to Accept AmEx Cards
United Card Service, UCS, stops next week accepting the cards of American Express (AmEx) in its acquiring net.
The basic reason of refusal is failure of negotiations between UCS and Russian Standard Bank. The holders won’t be able to pay by AmEx cards if the bank proves unable to ensure their service in the nearest future, RBC Daily reported.
For holders of AmEx cards, potential problems emerged in early April, when AmEx transferred legal rights for Russia’s acquiring business to Russian Standard Bank. The latter has been enjoying exclusive rights for releasing these cards since 2005.
Under the new rules, other banks and processing companies have to enter into agency agreements with Russian Standard Bank to proceed with servicing AmEx cards.
The talks with Russian Standard Bank have been terminated and the company stops servicing AmEx cards in its acquiring net August 7, UCS General Director Vladimir Komlev announced yesterday. “The conditions with which Russian Standard Bank approached us don’t correspond to economic and financial interests of our business,” Komlev explained.
In AmEx, they weren’t agitated by UCS decision, saying that UCS is just one of many processing companies operating in Russia and that Russian Standard Bank is actually executing agreements with a dozen of Russia’s banks and replacing UCS terminals by its own.
According to Artem Lebedev, who heads the PR department at Russian Standard Bank, AmEx cards are currently serviced by Impexbank, MDM-Bank, Raiffeisenbank Austria, Bank of St. Petersburg and other financial institutions.
www.kommersant.com
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