BRUSSELS, Belgium—As Europe’s proposed alternative to Visa and Mastercard takes shape, evidence from Russia suggests that an upstart rival can break the U.S. giants’ duopoly, if the government is prepared to put its finger on the scale, according to one new analysis.
Russia set up the Mir national payments card network in late 2015 at the behest of President Vladimir Putin in response to U.S. and E.U. sanctions over the annexation of Crimea, which saw Mastercard and Visa cut off services to several of the country’s banks, FinExtra said.
According to GlobalData, as of 2020, 74.6 million debit cards have been issued by Mir, representing 28.62% of all debit cards in circulation. Mir’s market share is now 25.3% in terms of transaction value, FinExtra shared.
Merchants with annual transaction turnover of more than RUB40 million ($0.5 million) are required to accept Mir cards. The threshold was reduced to RUB30 million in March and will drop to RUB20 million in July.