MirA textbook domestic scheme built in response to geopolitical risk (the 2014 sanctions). It became a near-monopoly after Visa and Mastercard pulled out in 2022. Acceptance abroad is limited and unstable, under pressure from secondary sanctions. Legal teams should treat Mir as a high compliance-risk asset.NSPK · Natsionalnaya Sistema Platezhnykh Kart (subsidiary of the Bank of Russia) · since 2015about 85% of the Russian card market (statement by NSPK's CEO, 2025); 493.9 million cards issued as of April 1, 2026; more than 56% of domestic transactions (secondary sources, 2025)
Global registry · Europe · Central and Eastern Europe
Russia Payment systems
14 systems listed.
CurrencyRussian ruble (RUB)
Domestic schemeMir
RegulatorCentral Bank of Russia (CBR)
Leading payment methods
Mir cardSBP (instant A2A)Local walletsCash
E-commerce shares
Cards · 40%Wallets · 25%Account-to-account · 25%Cash · 5%Other · 5%
Mir + SBP. After Visa and Mastercard pulled out in 2022, the state-run Mir scheme and the Bank of Russia’s SBP instant rail (QR, P2P) took over most domestic volume, a case study in payment sovereignty.
Mir cards issued (cumulative)475M (end of 2025, NSPK)
SBP≈68% of interbank transfers (2024)
An extreme case of forced substitution: international cards issued in Russia no longer work abroad, and the ecosystem has turned inward onto national rails.
IBAN · Russia
33 characters1,646 BIC codes
- Total length
- 33 characters
- Bank code position
- 5–13
- Branch code position
- 14–18
- BBAN structure
9!n5!n15!c
Structurally valid example
RUcountry code02check digits044525600bank40702branch810412345678901account
RU02 0445 2560 0407 0281 0412 3456 7890 1
Learn about this market. The guides and courses that cover it.
Merchant, acquirer, PSPPayment regulationCentral banks and payment infrastructuresAgents, distributors, and banking-as-a-service: who is liable for whatPayments in the BalkansPayments in the Baltics and FinlandAccepting payments in Germany, Austria, and SwitzerlandAccepting payments in Spain and PortugalChoosing a jurisdiction for your payment institutionAccepting payments in the Netherlands and BelgiumAccepting payments in the NordicsAccepting payments in Poland and Central Europe
Card schemes
Instant payments
SBP (Sistema Bystrykh Platezhey)A 24/7 instant payment system addressed by phone number. The central bank made participation MANDATORY for large banks, and that mandate, not market forces, broke Sberbank’s dominance in transfers. It also supports QR merchant payments at fees well below card fees.Bank of Russia / NSPK (NSPK serves as the operations and clearing center) · since 20194.1 billion transactions worth RUB 22.6 trillion in the first quarter of 2025, up 1.6x in volume and 2.1x in value year over year; 225 participating banks in May 2025 (Bank of Russia / secondary sources)
Faster Payments System (SBP)Russia’s instant rail addressed by phone number, mandatory for large banks and free for P2P below a threshold. Because it runs on NSPK, the operator of the Mir card, it has become the backbone of Russia’s post-sanctions payment infrastructure.NSPK (National Payment Card System) on behalf of the Bank of Russia · since 201950.8 billion cumulative transactions worth RUB 269.6 trillion, and 226 participating banks, as of June 1, 2026 (Bank of Russia, 2026)
Wallets
Mir PayAndroid NFC wallet that replaced Apple Pay and Google Pay after they pulled out of Russia in 2022. There is no iOS equivalent, a structural constraint on Russian mobile payments that the SBP QR code works around.NSPK · since 2019available to customers of 176 Russian banks at the end of 2024 (NSPK)
Qiwi Wallet and the Contact systemDiscontinuedThe Bank of Russia revoked Qiwi Bank’s banking license on February 21, 2024, for repeated AML/CFT violations. The wallets stopped working, the kiosks shut down, and the Contact transfer system was removed from the payment systems register. It still shows up often in outdated lists of Russian payment methods.Qiwi Bank (holding company renamed NanduQ PLC) · since 2007
SberPaySberbank’s NFC and QR wallet, launched in July 2020 on Mir cards. It became a mass-market channel after Apple Pay and Google Pay withdrew in 2022. Backed by the country’s largest acquiring network, it carries more weight than Mir Pay or SBPay but remains locked into the Sber ecosystem.Sberbank (Russia’s largest bank, majority state-owned) · since 202020 million users in June 2022 (Sber, figure cited by Wikipedia)
T-Pay (formerly Tinkoff Pay)Payment service launched in May 2022 to replace Apple Pay and Google Pay: first online, through the bank’s own acquiring, then in stores via NFC on Android. Because the iPhone’s NFC chip was off-limits, the bank handed out NFC stickers, a concrete illustration of the technical ceiling on mobile payments in Russia.TBank (formerly Tinkoff Bank, renamed in 2024; the service followed the rebrand) · since 2022
Yandex PayYandex’s ecosystem wallet, launched on March 10, 2021, to pay by card without re-entering card details, and extended to Android NFC and QR payments in September 2023. Its distribution comes from Yandex services rather than from a banking network, which sets it apart from SberPay and T-Pay.Yandex · since 2021
SBPay (СБПэй)NSPK’s payment app, built on SBP: QR, NFC, a pay button on merchant sites, and payment links in a single entry point. The key difference is that it debits the bank account directly, with no card data involved. That makes it a building block for bypassing the card ecosystem rather than a tokenization wallet.NSPK (AO NSPK, Russia’s National Payment Card System, which operates the Faster Payments System (SBP) on behalf of the Bank of Russia)
YooMoneyLeading Russian e-wallet: bill payments, transfers to a wallet, card, or account via SBP, wallet opening with just a phone number, and Mir card issuance. The group’s real weight is on the merchant side, through YooKassa. For compliance teams: the entity is a non-bank institution licensed by the central bank, not a bank.ООО НКО «ЮМани» (non-bank financial institution licensed by the Bank of Russia, license No. 3510-K)YooKassa, its online acceptance arm, claims more than 40% of Russian e-commerce platforms (YooMoney, website accessed August 2026)
Cross-border rails
SPFS (Sistema Peredachi Finansovykh Soobshcheniy)Russia’s alternative to SWIFT messaging, created after the 2014 sanctions and central since the 2022 disconnections. It is not a settlement system but a financial messaging channel, a legal distinction that matters for sanctions compliance.Bank of Russia · since 2014
SPFS (Sistema Peredatchi Finansovykh Soobscheniy)Russian financial messaging system created in anticipation of a disconnection from Swift. The key legal point: the EU has banned its use by banks outside Russia since June 2024, and in November 2024 OFAC issued an alert warning that it would aggressively target institutions joining the system. Joining SPFS is now a secondary sanctions risk, not just a technical choice.Bank of Russia · since 2014About 550 organizations connected (January 2024), including about 150 foreign ones from 16 countries as of Q3 2023 (Wikipedia summary source, to be cross-checked)
SPFS (System for Transfer of Financial Messages)Russia’s alternative to SWIFT messaging, created before the 2022 sanctions and now the main channel for Russian banks and their correspondents in partner countries.Bank of Russia · since 2014
Central bank digital currency
Digital rublePilotRetail CBDC that left its limited pilot on September 1, 2026, when the first wave of mandatory acceptance began. Its rollout is not left to the market: the law sets a three-wave timetable from 2026 to 2028, based on bank size and merchant revenue. The forced adoption path is what matters, not the project’s technical progress.Bank of Russiaacceptance made mandatory in stages by law: September 1, 2026, for the largest banks and for merchants with annual revenue above RUB 120 million; September 1, 2027, for banks with a universal license and merchants above RUB 30 million; September 1, 2028, for the remaining banks, with a basic license, and merchants below RUB 30 million; merchants under RUB 5 million in revenue or in areas without internet access are exempt (Bank of Russia, 2026)