Русский
Sberbank has launched payments using the SberPay QR code service in Turkiye, the bank has stated. Turkiye had previously come under sanctions pressure from the United States over initial plans for its banks to accept Russian MIR cards. Turkiye has become one of the biggest beneficiaries of the domestic Russian tourism market as Russians move away from European destinations. About 8 million Russian tourists visited the country in 2023.
The Sberbank press release stated that “Russians may now stock up on souvenirs and pay commission-free in shops and restaurants by using SberPay. To do this, just say that you are paying through the Metropol system when purchasing, go to payinturkey.com, click on the ‘Pay’ button, scan the seller’s QR code and pay using a convenient method,” the bank said on its Telegram channel.
The payment method is available in more than 30,000 stores and restaurants in 81 cities in Turkey, according to the bank’s website.
MIR payment system ATM cards ceased to be accepted in several countries in September 2022, including Turkiye, owing to a warning from the United States Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), according to which non-U.S. financial institutions entering into agreements with Russia’s National Payment Card System (NSCP) risk becoming involved in actions to circumvent U.S. sanctions by expanding the territory for utilizing the Mir payment system outside Russia.
Further Reading
Russia-Turkiye 2024 Trade & Development
The Russia-Turkiye trade and development dynamics are comprehensively featured in our 2024 Russia’s Pivot to Asia guide, which is a complimentary download and can be accessed in English here and in Russian here.
