Visa agrees to process Russian card transactions on local system

[MOSCOW] International credit and debit card company Visa Inc has agreed to transfer processing of transactions made on its cards in Russia to a local payment system, Russia's central bank and the company said on Thursday.

Visa's rival Mastercard recently reached a similar agreement.

Russian authorities obliged foreign card companies to move processing of their transactions within the country or pay a hefty security deposit, after Visa and Mastercard stopped providing services for some Russian banks that were sanctioned over Moscow's role in the Ukraine crisis.

REUTERS