Visa (NYSE:V) and Mastercard (NYSE:MA) have blocked Russian financial institutions from their networks, applying further pressure to the country’s economy.
The payment networks moved in order to comply with US imposed sanctions, with Mastercard (NYSE:MA) saying in a statement that it “will continue to work with regulators in the days ahead to abide fully by our compliance obligations as they evolve.”
According to Reuters, Russia’s central bank is one of many institutions facing sanctions, with Visa (NYSE:V) required to suspend it from using its services.
Russia has been building its own payment system since 2015 named Mir, although it only has a 30% market share according to its central bank.
Leaders from the international community also made their first moves to ban Russia from SWIFT, the global bank payment system that moves billions of dollars daily.