17:50, 11 August 2022
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923 views
Turkey starts accepting cards issued by Russian sanctioned banks
At least two out of five Turkish banks that signed an agreement with the Mir payment system accept cards without regard to the SDN status of the bank-issuer, although they do it without fanfare.
They stand the hazard of falling under secondary sanctions, including disconnection from SWIFT, lawyers say. However, as long as settlements are made in the national currencies of Russia and Turkey, without involving the dollar, the risks of secondary sanctions are not so high. Until recently, foreign banks were wary not only of working with banks that fell under US sanctions (SDN-List), but also of servicing cards of Russian issuers in general.
Thus, most Western banks do not accept UnionPay cards issued by Russian banks. However, there are those who believe that the benefits from servicing the cards issued by the Russian major banks from the SDN list outweigh the risks. As the check showed, the cards are accepted at least in the DenizBank and VakifBank infrastructure. In both banks, you can withdraw cash in Turkish liras using Mir cards issued by VTB and Sberbank.