The list of financial services companies that have cut off Russia for its ongoing invasion of Ukraine continues to grow, the Daily Wire reported.
The list now includes American Express and Paypal. Both companies announced their decisions over the weekend.
Cutting off the Russians
American Express put out a statement on Sunday explaining that it is “suspending all operation in Russia,” as well as Belarus, because of the “unjustified attack on the people of Ukraine.”
The statement reads:
As a result, globally issued American Express cards will no longer work at merchants or ATMs in Russia. Additionally, cards issued locally in Russia by Russian banks will no longer work outside of the country on the American Express global network. We are also suspending all business operations in Belarus. This is in addition to the previous steps we have taken, which include halting our relationships with banks in Russia impacted by the U.S. and international government sanctions.
Paypal made its decision to suspend its services in Russia on Saturday.
“Under the current circumstances, we are suspending PayPal services in Russia, the company said.
Other companies on the list
Previously, it was reported that Visa and Mastercard decided to suspend their services in Russia. Both companies announced their decisions on Saturday.
Visa put out a statement, saying the following:
Effective immediately, Visa will work with its clients and partners within Russia to cease all Visa transactions over the coming days. Once complete, all transactions initiated with Visa cards issued in Russia will no longer work outside the country and any Visa cards issued by financial institutions outside of Russia will no longer work within the Russian Federation.
Mastercard, similarly, explained why it decided to suspend its network services in Russia.
🚨🚨🚨NEWS: @Mastercard suspends operations in Russia, heeding calls from @ZelenskyyUa this morning pic.twitter.com/i3gmTHqRAQ
— Jacqui Heinrich (@JacquiHeinrich) March 5, 2022
Russia’s workaround
Fox Business reports that “Russian banks that have been cut off from global payments networks are turning to China’s state-owned UnionPay system.”
“Sberbank, Russia’s largest bank by assets, Alfa Bank, and Tinkoff Bank said Sunday they were working on the possibility of issuing cards powered by China’s UnionPay,” the outlet reports. “Another Russian lender, Gazprombank, said customers can do cross-border transactions by getting cards that use UnionPay or Japan’s JCB system.”
