The results of a poll conducted by Russian SuperJob recruitment website showed that after the suspension of Visa and Mastercard operations in Russia, 35% of Russians plan to apply for a MIR-UnionPay co-badged card.

RIA Novosti reports that 1600 citizens from various regions of Russia participated in the survey.

The survey showed that 35% of the respondents planned to apply for MIR-UnionPay co-badged cards, which operate in more than 180 countries of the world, 37% of the respondents did not plan to do so, and 28% were undecided.

At the same time, according to the survey, men (39%) are more likely than women (28%) to have a MIR-UnionPay card. Respondents over the age of 45 expressed willingness to apply for a MIR-UnionPay card more often than younger fellow citizens (37%). The data shows that the majority of those who want to apply for such cards are Russians (44%) with incomes above 80,000 rubles.



China UnionPay (CUP) - is a Chinese national payment system launched in 2002 to support Chinese businesses outside the country. The initiators of the establishment of the system were the State Council and People’s Bank of China. Its shareholders are over 200 financial institutions.

In 2007, CUP cards began to be accepted in Russia. In 2014, Russian banks began to issue them. In 2016, the NSPC and the Chinese CUP agreed to launch a Mir-UnionPay co-badged card project.

These cards are issued by several Russian banks. Probably, the number of banks issuing UnionPay cards will increase. Sber, Alfa-Bank and Tinkoff have already announced working on it.



It should be recalled that last week, Japanese payment system JCB decided to suspend its operations in Russia. It is noteworthy, that after Visa and Mastercard international payment systems decided to suspend services in Russia, JCB was viewed as an alternative to them.

In particular, JCB cards could replace Visa and Mastercard. Several Russian banks were issuing JCB cards. In addition, Mir-JCB co-badged cards were issued in Russia.

Today, Mir-UnionPay co-badged card remains the only alternative.

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