Sanctioned banks in Russia would not be able to support Apple Pay and Google Pay

After the White House sanctioned five major banks in Russia — VTB, Sovcombank, Otkritie, Novikombank, and Promsvyazbank — as a result of its attitude towards Ukraine, the sanctioned banks no longer will be able to support services like Apple Pay and Google Pay.

As per the announcement by the Central Bank of the country, the credit and debit cardholders in these banks will not be allowed to use Apple Pay and Google Pay. However, the contact and contactless payment would still be fully available across Russia.

Cards issued by banks that have been sanctioned by Western countries work and will continue to work in Russia without limits. Customers’ funds in card-linked accounts are likewise fully stored and accessible. 

However, the customers of sanctioned banks would be unable to use their cards to pay for services at online stores and service aggregators registered in countries that support sanctions.

Bank of Russia informs sanction of Sberbank

The Bank of Russia, in a separate statement, said that the country’s biggest bank, Sberbank is also on the sanctioned banks list. The sanction particularly targets its correspondent accounts.

Apart from some Russian cards being prohibited from Apple Pay and Google Pay, some sanctioned Russian banks are also experiencing troubles with the Apple Store and Google Store as a result of their role in the Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics of Ukraine.

On Wednesday, Apple apparently removed mobile applications from the App Store by the sanctioned Promsvyazbank, with at least three applications being withdrawn. Google is also said to have removed the bank’s main application from its store.

Rising fear and huge outflows

As TheCoinRise reported, there is massive fear among citizens of getting their funds seized if the sanctions go too far, as a result of which, the citizens are withdrawing their funds in large numbers. On the first day of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, users reportedly withdrew 111.3 billion rubles ($1.3 billion) from banks, the largest outflow since the COVID-19 outbreak began two years ago.

On Friday, many users online reported ATMs running dry and long lines to cash out, indicating that the substantial bank outflows have apparently continued.

People standing in queue outside of Sberbank to withdraw the money from their accounts. #Czechia #russia #Ukraine #UkraineRussia pic.twitter.com/WOnTbPsFad

— alexandra (@alxsndrew) February 25, 2022

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