| |  The holders of American Express (AmEx) cards might encounter problems when using their cards in Russia, according to RBC Daily. Russian banks and processing companies have failed to agree with the Russian Standard bank, which has exclusive acquiring rights for AmEx cards, and some banks have announced that they would no longer accept AmEx cards.
According to RBC Daily, United Card Service (UCS) processing company, which controls over 50 percent of Russia’s acquiring market, stopped accepting AmEx cards yesterday. Another processing company, Compass Plus, and Expobank, servicing 80 percent of Moscow’s premium restaurants, are set to follow suit in September. The same is likely to happen to other large retail banks if an agreement is not reached with Russian Standard.
About 200 trade outlets that used to accept AmEx cards have already stopped cooperating with Russian Standard, RBC Daily said. American Express has even sent a delegation to Russia to settle the problem, and AmEx officials have held talks with Russian acquiring firms.
Meanwhile, Russian Standard is optimistic. Artem Lebedev, the head of the bank’s PR department, told RBC Daily that “if banks refuse to cooperate with Russian Standard, the bank has enough resources to ensure the acceptance of AmEx cards by trade companies throughout the country.”
"Alliance Media" News Agency, based on the story by RBC
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American Express cards out of favor in Russia
