MasterCard offers virtual cards to Yandex.Money users
Earlier this week Yandex.Money, a leading Russian virtual currency – in Russian: Yandex.Dengi – announced that its 16 million users can now automatically enjoy a virtual MasterCard debit card, allowing...
View ArticleRussia considers switching to national payment system after Visa, Mastercard...
Last week saw the international turmoil around Ukraine and Crimea affect Russia’s banking system, as the bank card operations of several US-sanctioned Russian banks were blocked by Visa and Mastercard....
View ArticleMobile acquiring startup 2can raises $5 million in Series B funding
Smartfin, a provider of mobile payment solutions in Russia under the brand 2can, has just completed a $5 million Series B round of financing with the participation of previous investors InVenture and...
View ArticleRussian-made chips for bank cards could appear in 2015
Russia is setting up its own payment operation and clearing centers to circumvent US-based Visa and Mastercard – and may have its own homemade chip for banking cards as early as next year. According to...
View ArticleNew law establishes national control of bank card transactions – without...
This past Friday, the Russian State Duma passed a law to create a national payment card system, the Russian news agency Interfax reported. The law took the form of amendments to existing legislation...
View ArticleMobile payment and transaction processing provider Net Element raises $11.2...
Last week Net Element, a NASDAQ-listed provider of mobile payment and value-added transactional service and solutions in Russia and in the United States, announced $11.2 million investment from a new...
View ArticleiTech Capital injects $10 million into financial SMS service provider MFM...
Last week the business daily Vedomosti reported a $10 million investment from Russian PE & VC fund iTech Capital in Mobile Finance Management Solutions (MFM Solutions), a Moscow-based provider of...
View ArticleVisa, MasterCard better off quitting Russia, Morgan Stanley says
New legislation placing foreign payment service providers under the thumb of Russian regulators is so damaging to Visa and MasterCard that the two U.S. companies might be better off abandoning the...
View ArticleNew rules on user identification may significantly affect cross-border...
On May 16, amendments to the Russian legislation on payments came into force with potentially far-reaching consequences for e-payment and e-commerce companies working with Russian customers – including...
View ArticleRussian hackers get jail time for online banking thefts
After an investigation initiated by the security service of Sberbank, Russia’s national savings bank, the activities of an organized criminal group of hackers that specialize in stealing money from the...
View ArticleClik here to view.
TNS studies the popularity of electronic currencies in Russia
TNS has conducted research on the popularity of electronic payment methods among Russian online shoppers of different age and demographic groups. Electronic currencies (such as Yandex Money, WebMoney,...
View ArticleVisa and MasterCard to participate in Russia’s new national payment system
Visa and MasterCard will continue to operate in Russia, the companies’ representatives told journalists last week at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, following a meeting with Russia’s...
View ArticleNew Russian fund plans to invest up to $100 million in P2P and fintech...
Finam, one of Russia’s most well-established financial groups, has teamed up with Skagit Investment, a Moscow-based IT investment company, to launch an international venture fund, christened FinSight...
View ArticleDigital money conference to map the future of bitcoins in Dublin
Twenty of the most innovative and influential leaders in the Bitcoin, payments and financial services worlds will be among the featured speakers at the inaugural Bitcoin Finance Conference and Expo...
View ArticleRussia still dominates Ukraine’s money transfer market
Russian money-transfer service Zolotaya Korona (Golden Crown) has displaced Western Union as the most-popular option for sending money to Ukraine, according to Elena Makhaeva, who heads the department...
View ArticleOzon CEO Maëlle Gavet to Harvard Business Review: How to build an e-commerce...
Russia’s economy is cash based, and its delivery networks are shaky. To drive growth in e-commerce, Ozon had to create a proprietary distribution system, a new logistics and customer service model, and...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Russia’s Sberbank leads $8 million round in US money management startup Moven
Last week money-management service Moven raised $8 million at an undisclosed valuation in a round led by SBT Venture Capital, the venture arm of Russia’s national savings bank Sberbank. Virginia-based...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Rapid growth in Russia and Turkey drives European ATM market
Russia and Turkey are the major engines of ATM market expansion in Europe, with growth in much of the rest of the continent standing still, and several major markets contracting during 2013. These are...
View ArticleQiwi launches acceleration program and invests in 12 startups
The investment arm of QIWI, the Russian payment giant, has injected $700,000 into 12 startups selected for the QIWI Universe acceleration program, hosted by Moscow State University’s business...
View ArticleVisa forecasts $50 million loss on moving processing to Russia
The law requiring international payment systems to move processing to Russia in order to avoid paying a substantial security deposit will cost Visa $50 million in revenue, the management of the U.S....
View Article