Banks of Kyrgyzstan stopped servicing Mir cards due to US sanctions

If secondary sanctions were imposed against banks in Kyrgyzstan, this could affect their correspondent accounts, including those in foreign banks,explained the deputy HEAD of the NATIONAL BANK of the country

Banks of Kyrgyzstan have stopped working with the Russian payment system "Mir" due to the threat of sanctions from the United States . This was stated by the Deputy Chairman of the National Bank of the countries Kaiyp Kulenbekov at a meeting of the Ishenim parliamentary faction, 24.kg reports.

According to him, the regulator did not give instructions to banks regarding work with Mir cards, the decision to refuse their service was made by credit organizations on their own due to fear of secondary sanctions.

“If secondary sanctions are imposed on Kyrgyz banks, this may affect their correspondent accounts. Restrictions may also apply to their correspondent accounts in foreign banks. In this regard, the activities of the bank may be limited,” Kulenbekov explained.

The service of Mir cards was previously suspended by commercial banks Capital Bank, Demir Bank, Kyrgyzstan, Bakai Bank, Dos-Kredobank, Companion, Bank of Asia, KICB, Bai-Tushum , "Optima Bank", as well as the state "Aiyl Bank".

The Ambassador of Kyrgyzstan considered temporary and technical problems with Mir cards

The head of the Russian National Payment Card System (NSPK), Vladimir Komlev, is under sanctions from Washington. In September, the US Treasury Department threatened foreign banks with sanctions for cooperating with the Russian payment system Mir.

After that, the head of the Central Bank of RUSSIA, Elvira Nabiullina, said that the regulator would continue to expand the Mir card acceptance network abroad. Nevertheless, operations with them were suspended by a number of Turkish banks, some Kazakh banks, Uzbek banks, as well as the Vietnamese BIDV.

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On October 14, the Central Bank of Sri Lanka announced that the Mir payment system would not be used in the country due to US sanctions. As early as September 17, the Minister of Transport of Sri Lanka, Bandula Gunawardana, said that negotiations on the use of cards are being conducted at the level of central banks.

Cards of the Russian payment system "Mir" are accepted in SOUTH KOREA, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and partially recognized South Ossetia and Abkhazia. The list of all countries and banks that accept Mir cards was previously published on the NSPK website, but after the announcement of the US Department of the Treasury, the information was deleted.