American Express joins Visa and Mastercard in suspending operations in Russia

American Express (AMEX) announced that it is suspending its operations in Russia, joining the measure taken by the Visa and Mastercard financial transaction platforms.

“In light of Russia’s continued and unwarranted attack on the people of Ukraine, American Express is suspending all operations in Russia.”, assured the company in a statement.

As in the case of the other two companies, AMEX specifies that its cards “cards issued worldwide will no longer work at merchants and ATMs in Russia, while cards issued locally in Russia by Russian banks will no longer work outside the country on the American Express global network”.

This means that cards issued outside of Russia cannot be used to make purchases or withdraw money within the country, but citizens with cards issued in the country will be able to buy within Russia, although their transactions will be made through other networks.

Visa also suspends operations in Russia

“All transactions initiated with Visa cards issued in Russia will no longer work outside the country and Visa cards issued by financial institutions outside of Russia will no longer work within the Russian Federation”, Visa wrote in a statement in which it also justified its action because of the war in Ukraine.

The president and CEO of that institution, Al Kelly, stressed that they feel compelled to act after Russia’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine.

The decision by the three platforms comes a week after the United States and the European Union (EU), along with other Western partners, agreed to remove “certain” Russian banks from the international Swift system, accentuating Russia’s disconnection from the system. international financial.

The Swift transaction system is the foundation of the global financial system and is used by 11,000 banks in 200 countries or territories to make transfers.

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