NSPK National Payment Card System

Joint Stock Company "National Payment Card System" (NSPK) is the operator of the national payment system. JSC "NSPK" was established on July 23, 2014. 100% of the shares of NSPK JSC belong to the Central Bank of the Russian Federation. The activities of the NSPK are regulated by Federal Law No. 161 "On the National Payment System," "Development Strategy of the National Payment System" and "Concept of Creating a National Payment Card System."

The system was created after a number of Russian banks fell under US sanctions, and international payment systems Visa and MasterCard, at the request of the United States, ceased to serve cards issued by these banks.

The tasks of the NSPK are to ensure the continuity of operations on cards of international payment systems in Russia, the construction and development of the Russian payment card system.

Since April 1, 2015, domestic transactions on cards of all payment systems, including international ones, have been carried out through the processing of the NSPK operational payment and clearing center (NSPK OPCC).

Payment cards "Mir"

Main article: World (national payment system)

The payment card of the system is the Mir card.

Performance indicators

2023: Revenue growth 1.4 times to 71.9 billion rubles

The revenue of the National Payment Card System (NSPK) for 2023 increased 1.4 times compared to 2022 and reached 71.9 billion rubles. The net profit of the Mir card operator increased by a similar amount - from 25.3 billion to 35.1 billion rubles. Such data are given in the reporting under RAS, which the NSPK disclosed in early April 2024

Interfax, citing NSPK documents, cites some of the company's indicators for 2023:

• profit from sales increased 1.5 times to 42.1 billion rubles;
• sales expenses increased by 35.8% to RUB 15.93 billion;
• expenses on marketing and promotion, including shares with partners, increased 1.5 times to 10.6 billion rubles;
• advertising spending increased by 21% to 4.6 billion rubles;
• IT infrastructure maintenance costs slightly decreased - from 1.32 billion to 1.31 billion rubles;
• payments under loyalty programs increased 1.7 times to 5.76 billion rubles.

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The national payment card system in 2023 paid a windfall tax of 1.77 billion rubles. Windfall tax is taken into account as part of other taxes and fees, they amounted to 2.14 billion rubles in 2023.

It also follows from the materials of the NSPK that by the end of 2023 the company's receivables increased 1.6 times, to 11.9 billion rubles. Accounts payable increased 1.5 times to 22.56 billion rubles.

According to the results of 2023, funds in a special account of the PS Mir Guarantee Fund (formed to ensure the fulfillment of obligations of payment system participants in case of a lack of funds in the participant's account) increased 1.4 times to 20.19 billion rubles. The return of overpaid contributions to the guarantee fund of the Mir system in 2023 reached 17.8 billion rubles against 4.6 billion rubles a year earlier.^[1]

2022: Growth in profit 2.5 times to 25.3 billion rubles

At the end of 2022, the National Payment Card System (NSPK) received a net profit of 25.3 billion rubles against 9.9 billion rubles in profit a year earlier. The card operator "Mir" published such data in early May 2023.

According to Interfax, citing NSPK reports, the organization's revenue in 2022 reached 50.3 billion rubles, an increase of 1.7 times compared to a year ago (29.4 billion rubles). Profit from sales increased even more - 2.4 times, to 28.7 billion rubles.

The national payment card system received a net profit of 25.3 billion rubles

Accounts receivable from NSPK in 2022 increased 1.6 times, to 7.6 billion rubles from 4.8 billion rubles in 2021. Accounts payable increased more than 2 times, to 15.1 billion rubles compared to 7.2 billion rubles in 2021.

Cash receipts increased 4 times, to 177.3 billion rubles (44.2 billion rubles in 2021). Revenues from the sale of goods and services increased 1.7 times, to 47.9 billion rubles (28.8 billion rubles in the previous year). Other receipts include contributions to the guarantee fund of the payment system (13 billion rubles, 4.6 billion rubles were returned to participants), settlements with participants in the Mir payment system (91 billion rubles) and subsidies for the implementation of the tourist cashback program (20.3 billion rubles), as well as payments under the loyalty program PS "Mir" (3.4 billion rubles).

Funds in a special account of the PS Mir Guarantee Fund increased 2.6 times, to 14 billion rubles. The fund was formed to ensure the fulfillment of obligations of participants in the payment system (PS) in case of a lack of funds on the participant's account. For Russian participants, the fund is formed in rubles and is recorded in a special account opened at the Central Bank settlement center. It contains the main amount of funds - 13.7 billion rubles.^[2]

2019

Net profit growth by 17% to 5.6 billion rubles.

On March 30, 2020, NSPK JSC published its financial statements for the 12 months of 2019, compiled in accordance with Russian accounting standards (RAS).

At the end of 2019, the net profit of NSPK JSC amounted to 5.6 billion rubles. Thus, this indicator increased by 17% compared to the same period in 2018. Revenue growth had a significant impact on net income growth, as in 2018.

In 2019, the company received revenue in the amount of 16.2 billion rubles. The increase in this indicator compared to 2018 amounted to 36.2%, in absolute terms, the revenue of NSPK JSC increased by almost 4.3 billion rubles.

Significant revenue growth in 2019 was due, in particular, to the development of the cashless payments market. According to official figures, in to data Bank of Russia 2019 the number of non-cash transactions made on the territory Russia using cards issued by the Russian credit organizations increased by 33% - from 29 to 38.6 billion transactions, in monetary volume the market showed an increase of almost 29% - from 48.4 to 62.4 trillion. rubles

The launch of PS "" products and services and the continuing growth of World card issue had a significant impact on the increase in the company's revenue "Mir" - at the end of 2019 Russian banks , about 73 million national ones were issued. payment cards

During the reporting period, NSPK JSC paid income tax in the amount of 1.78 billion rubles.

In 2019, expenses of NSPK JSC amounted to 9.4 billion rubles, which is 51% more than in 2018. Among other things, the expenditure part of the company's budget increased due to an increase in staff - the company's number of employees increased by 20% in 2019. Thanks to this, it became possible to even more actively develop existing and implement emerging projects and areas of work of NSPK JSC, as well as expand the range of services provided by the company. Among them are the introduction and development of services provided to international payment systems and participating banks of the Mir payment system, the international development of Mir PS and the improvement of existing Mir PS services for holders of national payment cards in order to provide them with the most convenient and profitable solutions. This work included the development of services aimed at increasing transactional activity and loyalty of Mir cardholders, as well as increasing the attractiveness of national payment cards for consumers.

At the same time, NSPK JSC has maintained a traditionally high level of return on capital - in 2019 this indicator amounted to 35.3%, which confirms the effective use of the company's own funds. This is also evidenced by the fact that during the reporting period the company did not receive additional financing due to an increase in the authorized capital by the shareholder and did not attract borrowed funds. All expenses of NSPK JSC of an operational and investment nature in 2019 were carried out only at the expense of the company's own funds, as a year earlier.

Among the mobile services presented by NSPK, great attention was paid to the Mir Pay mobile payment service in 2019, to which 42 banks joined at the end of 2019. One of the largest projects of the Mir payment system in 2019 was the launch of transport actions that allow holders of Mir contactless cards to save on public transport in several cities.

In addition, in early 2019, the Fast Payment System (FPS) was launched, where the Bank of Russia acts as an operator and settlement center, and NSPK - as an operational payment and clearing center. The development of the SBP is one of the most important areas of work of NSPK JSC, within which large-scale resource and operational support of this service is carried out.

In 2019, Finexpertiza was chosen as the auditor of NSPK JSC.

Increase in the annual revenue of the Mir payment system by 70% to 4.1 billion rubles

The revenue of the National Payment Card System (NSPK) in 2019 amounted to 16.2 billion rubles, which is 36.2% more than a year earlier. In absolute terms, the company's revenues increased to almost 4.3 billion rubles and the revenue of the Russian payment system Mir, operated by NSPK, increased by 70% to 4.1 billion rubles.

A tangible increase in revenue in the company was associated with the development of the market for non-cash payments. According to the Central Bank of the Russian Federation, in 2019 the number of non-cash transactions made in Russia using cards issued by Russian credit institutions increased by 33% - from 29 to 38.6 billion transactions, in monetary volume the market showed an increase of almost 29% - from 48.4 to 62.4 trillion rubles.

Financial indicators of the National Payment Card System (NSPK)

In addition, the launch of new products and services of the Mir system and the continuing growth in card issuance influenced the increase in the company's revenue - as of the end of 2019, Russian banks issued about 73 million national payment cards.

At the end of 2019, NSPK registered a net profit of 5.6 billion rubles, which is 17% more than a year ago. This rise was largely due to an increase in revenue, according to financial materials compiled in accordance with Russian accounting standards (RAS).

The Mir system accounted for a quarter of NSPK's revenue in 2019. The rest is brought to income for the processing of domestic Russian traffic of international payment systems, the largest of which are Visa and Mastercard. All domestic Russian transactions are processed by NSPK using their cards.

In 2019, NSPK revenues from processing traffic of international systems increased by 26% in 2019 and amounted to 11.9 billion rubles. NSPK's annual expenses jumped 51% to 9.4 billion rubles.^[3]

2016: NSPK pays off 90% in two years

Net profit in 2016 amounted to 2.6 billion rubles. The net profit of NSPK in 2015 amounted to 1.2 billion rubles. In total, according to the results of two years of work, the net profit of the NSPK amounted to 3.8 billion rubles - this is 90% of the amount spent on the creation of the system. The formation of the net profit indicator in 2016 was significantly influenced by revenue, which in 2016 amounted to 6.2 billion rubles.

2024: Huawei Pay crashes due to sanctions

At the end of February 2024, Huawei Pay stopped working in Russia due to US sanctions against the National Payment Card System (NSPK). At the same time, the service is still available to Russians abroad. Read more here.

2022

DDOS attack by Ukrainian hackers

In September 2022, Ukrainian hacktivists launched a large-scale DDoS attack on the Mir payment card and its operator, the National Payment Card System (NSPK), Kommersant wrote, citing sources in the industry.

The purpose of the attack is to overload the system and cause a failure in card service. Until now, there has been no information about vulnerabilities in the Mir system.

NSPK: Mir payment system saved the Russian economy from collapse

The national payment card system (NSPK) and the Mir payment system [1] ensured the operability of the Russian banking system and the market as a whole after the departure of the Western payment systems VISA and MasterCard. [2] Vladimir Troyanovsky, Deputy General Director of the NSPK, spoke about this at the TAdviser Summit 2022 .

According to him, if back in 2015 the processing of all payments by bank cards had not been transferred to the Operational and Payment Clearing Center (OPCC) of the NSPK, then after March 10, when international payment systems ceased their activities, the flow of funds could stop. According to Vladimir Troyanovsky, more than 420 banks are connected to the NSPK OPCC, while the system processes more than 19 billion transactions per year.

Deputy Vladimir Troyanovsky, General Director of NSPK: NSPK was created as a platform company for interaction between the state, people and business. The photo is TAdviser

NSPK was created as a platform company for interaction between the state, people and business. The Mir processing center and payment system have become the basis for launching a number of services, and not only payment services. When the NSPK was created and launched the Mir system, many wondered why this was needed at all. Today it became obvious to everyone that we are more than the next payment system, - said Vladimir Troyanovsky.

Thus, on the basis of the Mir payment system, a Resident Card has been launched in 25 regions, which gives access to a number of regional services. According to the deputy. General Director of the NSPK, more than 5.2 million plastic cards have already been issued, with the help of which people can: pay for travel in public, transport receive social payments, use to participate in regional loyalty programs. The "resident card" can be used as a medium, EDS used as a pass to educational institutions, an electronic reading card and an identifier in medical institutions. Each region itself approves the list of services available on the "Resident Card." Unification of payment instruments will save budget funds on the production of transport cards, loyalty cards, EDS carriers, etc.

On the basis of the NSPK, a Transport Processing Platform was created, which makes it possible to pay for travel in public transport with any bank cards. Moreover, the platform allows you to pay for travel also using a mobile phone using the SBP. Projects were launched in 8 regions of Russia.

According to Vladimir Troyanovsky, since 2017, a direct payment platform has been operating on the NSPK meringue, through which more than 404.2 billion rubles have been issued to citizens during their existence. The platform at the federal level provides payments to the Social Insurance Fund: insurance payments, benefits for temporary disability, pregnancy and childbirth, at the birth of a child and care for him, as well as payments related to COVID-19. Now the functionality for the implementation of regional measures of social support is being worked out.

NSPK, together with the Ministry of Labor and the Federal Treasury , launched the Front Office Platform for Electronic Certificates. The platform enables disabled people and citizens subject to federal law No. 491-FZ "On the purchase of certain types of goods, works, services using an electronic certificate" to purchase goods regulated by the certificate using the Mir card.

On the basis of the Mir payment system, loyalty programs of federal brands, state services, municipal services and federal departments are being implemented. So, you can get a cache beck on the card from OZON, Lenta, Sportmaster, AliExpress and other retailers. And also use discounts on transport, on mos.ru, do not pay commissions when paying through the Public services portal, as well as receive a refund from Rostourism for travel in Russia.

The NSPK PCOC processes payments and transfers made using the SBP and using a QR code. More than 1.4 billion such operations were carried out through the NSPK and more than 8.3 trillion rubles were transferred. SBP and payment by QR code are already used by more than 50 million owners smartphones and interest in these services, according to Vladimir Troyanovsky, is growing noticeably.

TAdviser SummIT took place on May 31, 2022 in Moscow. The event was attended by more than 900 delegates, more than 100 reports were made. Among the key speakers are the Minister of Digital Development of the Russian Federation Maksut Shadayev, Deputy General Director of RZDEvgeniy Charkin, Chief information officer of Uralchem Valery Fokin, Vice President for IT at Evrazholding Artem Natrusov, Chief information officer of Lenta Sergei Sergeyev and others.

Artem Natrusov, VP IT EvrazHolding

TAdviser interview with Deputy General Director Vladimir Troyanovsky

In 2021, the three-year period of implementation of the development strategy of the National Payment Card System (NSPK) ended. During this time, the products that NSPK develops have grown in new capabilities, and the number of transactions in them has increased significantly. The next strategic planning cycle is designed for a period until 2024. What will be the main directions of development during this period, and how IT will help in this, Vladimir Troyanovsky, Deputy General Director of the NSPK, told TAdviser in an interview. Read more here.

Chief information officer of the National Payment Card System was promoted to Deputy General Director

Vladimir Troyanovsky, who previously headed DIT NSPK, from February 1, 2022 took the post of deputy general director. Instead of Vladimir Troyanovsky, Andrei Sokolov, who previously held the position of technical director at Honest Sign (Operator-CRPT), the operator of the unified national system for digital labeling and tracking of goods, will become the IT chief information officer of the NSPK.

2019

3.3 billion rubles spent on advertising

The National Payment Card System (NSPK), the operator of the Mir payment system, became one of the largest Russian advertisers and in 2019 spent 3.367 billion rubles on advertising, marketing and PR.

In 2018, NSPK spent 1.594 billion rubles on analogical purposes.

Launch in the Fast Transfer Payment System abroad

On October 10, 2019, at the V Finopolis 2019 Forum of Innovative Financial Technologies, Mastercard and the National Payment Card System (NSPK) announced a cooperation within which transfers abroad will appear in the Fast Payment System. Read more here.

2018: Brand and logo update 

The payment system "Mir" presented in March 2018 a new communication strategy, as well as an updated logo and corporate identity. "The company's communication platform will aim to form an energetic, modern, technological, understandable and friendly brand that inspires action," the press release said.

The need for changes is due to the fact that consumers have an ambiguous attitude towards the brand of national payment cards.

"The Russian payment system was created quite recently, in 2015. Over several years of active product development, consumers have developed an ambiguous attitude towards the Mir national payment system . Myths began to emerge around the brand that did not correspond to reality. The task of the new communication strategy is to present Mir as a worthy technological Russian brand that is constantly developing and accessible to the entire population, "the payment system explained

The development of the communication platform was carried out by the agency Graphit (part of Leo Burnett Group Russia). The agency's task was to update the Mir brand positioning and communication strategy for 2018.

As part of the communication strategy, Mir also presented an updated logo and brand identity. The idea and implementation belong to the Firma Agency team.

The brand adjusted the logo elements, leaving the overall proportions unchanged. The changes affected only the letter "P" and the shape of the petal - they became more proportional and geometrically more correct. "Mir" retained the logo's overall color scheme - green and blue, but green has become more saturated and cold, and the blue gradient is much brighter, which is designed to emphasize the brand's manufacturability and modernity. Also, against the background of general changes, an additional version of the logo appears - a white logo on a colored background. This version of the image will be used together with the main logo on color media, for example, on layouts and souvenirs.

2017

Revenue and profit growth of 27%

• At the end of 2017, the net profit of NSPK JSC amounted to 3.3 billion rubles, which is 27.5% more than in 2016. Revenue growth had a significant impact on the net profit indicator.

• In 2017, the company's revenue amounted to 7.9 billion rubles. Compared to 2016, it increased by 1.7 billion rubles, the total increase in the indicator was 27.4%. In particular, as part of the provision of PS services "Mir" , revenue increased by 399 million rubles. The growth of revenue was significantly influenced by the development of the non-cash payment market, the connection of new participants to the Mir payment system, as well as the growth of the issue of Mir cards - at the end of 2017, the number of banks Russian national payment cards issued exceeded 30 million.

• In 2017, the company's expenses amounted to 4.1 billion rubles, which is 26.7% more than in 2016. The increase in expenses is also due to an increase in the volume of services provided by the company, an expansion of services provided by international payment systems and participating banks of the Mir payment system.

• In 2017, a significant part of its own funds was invested in the development of the Mir payment system, the introduction of new products and services, and the creation of new infrastructure facilities.

• Income tax for the reporting period amounted to 905 million rubles.

• In 2017, the high level of return on capital of NSPK JSC was maintained, this indicator amounted to 36.7%.

Sellers with revenue of more than 40 million rubles are required to accept Mir cards

The provisions of the Law "On Protection of Consumer Rights" came into force, according to which sellers with revenue of more than 40 million rubles a year from October 1 are required to accept cards of the national payment system "Mir" for payment.  Trade and service enterprises whose calculations take place in the area without access to the Internet do not fall under the law.

From July 1, Russian banks are obliged to issue only cards of the Mir national payment system to state employees who have applied for a new account. By this time, banks were supposed to ensure the reception of Mir cards in their ATMs and payment terminals.

By July 1, credit organizations were supposed to ensure the reception of Mir cards in their ATMs and payment terminals. It is expected that the volume of issue of Mir cards at the end of 2017 will amount to 16-20 million units.

Integration of national payment systems of Russia and Armenia

On August 17, 2017, the NSPK announced that the first participants in the project involving mutual acceptance of cards of national payment systems Russia Armenia and in payment infrastructures of the two countries: cards - "Mir" in Armenia, and cards - ArCa in Russia, steel,, and. banks VTB Alfa-Bank Center-Invest UralTransBank

As part of the pilot project, Alfa-Bank, Center-Invest and Uraltransbank provided the possibility of servicing Mir payment system cards in ArCa ATMs of the payment system of the Republic of Armenia, branded with the Mir logo, and servicing ArCa cards in their ATMs and terminal network.

VTB Bank is the settlement bank of the Mir national payment system when conducting operations between two payment systems. All settlements are made in the national currencies of the Russian Federation and the Republic of Armenia.

A cooperation agreement between the national payment systems of Russia and Armenia was signed in June last year. In July 2017, the first transactions on Mir cards took place in the infrastructure of the ArCa payment system.

Interview of Chief information officer Vladimir Troyanovsky TAdviser

In January 2017, Vladimir Troyanovsky, director of the IT department of NSPK, told TAdviser in an interview how the Mir payment system is developing.

2016: How the NSPK IT infrastructure works and who created it

Main article: How the IT infrastructure of the NSPK works and who created it

2015

The first 7 banks are connected

At the end of January 2015, the first seven banks were connected to the NSPK, in February the system was put into trial operation, as of March 16, 77 participants worked in 16 cities of the country, and from April 1, as planned, the NSPK began to function in working mode. From this moment, there is a serial connection to the system of banks in the country, with a constant increase in the operations performed.

At the end of April, the activities of the NSPK are characterized by the following parameters: only 170 employees, duty shift - 12 people, three data centers (two operating and one standby) with a total power consumption of 110 kW, 119 servers (three types, with a total number of 290 processors), 1000 TB of disk space, 500 network devices (1700 network ports, 30 Wi-Fi points), 224 communication channels, 330 items in the purchase specification.

Timur Aitov, expert of the Association of Regional Banks of Russia:

Visa transferred domestic transactions to NSPK processing

The international payment system Visa and JSC "NSPK" sent a letter to market participants in January 2015, in which they announced that the teams of both companies are cooperating on the transfer of processing of domestic transactions^[1].

In the letter, banks were reminded of the need to join the NSPK within the deadlines established by the law on the national payment system (NPS).

It follows from the text of the letter that both companies "plan to begin the migration of banks to the processing of NSPKs using Visa cards in accordance with the deadlines established by law." Visa asks banks to connect and migrate to NSPK processing until March 31, having passed special testing before, and inform affiliated banks connected through them "as soon as possible."

In February 2015, it became known that NSPK and Visa signed a bilateral agreement on the provision of operating and payment clearing services for domestic transactions using Visa cards by the NSPK processing center.

The Central Bank, NSPK and Visa also entered into a tripartite agreement defining the procedure for providing settlement services for the above operations through the Bank of Russia.

On January 12, 2015, another international payment system, MasterCard, entered into an agreement with NSPK. According to the Central Bank, MasterCard, NSPK and the Central Bank, which will perform the functions of a settlement center, signed a tripartite agreement determining the procedure for providing settlement services.

MDM Bank passed testing and joined NSPK

In January 2015, MDM Bank completed test connections to the national payment card system (NSPK) and entered the pool of banks that were the first to start pilot operation of the system.

In September 2014, NSPK JSC selected several Russian banks for three stages of testing. MDM Bank was among the first credit institutions to join NSPK as part of the testing of a technology platform for processing banking operations, including transactions of international payment systems.

Cards of the national payment system will begin to be accepted abroad in 2016

Cards of the national payment system will begin to accept abroad from 2016. This was announced by the general director of the NSPK Vladimir Komlev, handed over in March 2015. TASS

Komlev noted that in 2016 the NSPK plans to issue a holding card - it will enable Russian citizens to make payments abroad. First of all, they plan to ensure the reception of the NSPK bank card in countries with a high tourist flow from Russia (in Turkey, Egypt, a number of Mediterranean countries). The general director of the NSPK explained that the payment system is considering holding programs, including with MasterCard, American Express and Japanese JCB.

31 banks have so far passed certification as part of the transfer of domestic Visa transactions to the NSPK

On March 26, 20 banks were certified, by the end of the day even more banks will complete certification. But dozens of banks have yet to be certified. In general, we are talking about connecting less than 100 banks, "the head of the NSPK Vladimir Komlev told reporters.

He noted that the complete transition of all domestic transactions on Visa and MasterCard cards to processing through NSPK from international payment systems will take several weeks. Commenting on the discrepancy in the timing of projects with MasterCard and Visa payment systems, Komlev stressed that the systems are "different."

Half of the banks of the Russian Federation have completely transferred transactions on Visa cards to NSPK processing

Half of Russian banks as of May 13, 2015 completely transferred the processing of transactions on Visa cards to the National Payment Card System (NSPK). The process of transferring Visa's domestic processing will be completed by early June, the NSPK press service said.

"As of May 13, Visa began pilot operation of 75 banks, of which 36 banks have already completely transferred the processing of transactions to the NSPK in industrial mode," the NSPK press service noted.

NSPK will use a Russian chip

On June 15, 2015, it became known about the preparation of the Russian MIK51SC72D chip for use in NSPK's plans to seize half of the Russian bank card market by 2018^[2].

According to some forecasts, the first batch of cards with the new chip may be issued in Russia in the fall of 2015.

NSPK agreed to use Russian software

On August 25, 2015, it became known that the National Payment Card System (NSPK) will work on Russian software. Earlier, the press service of the company announced the preparation of software for the system by the specialized division of OpenWay (Belgium)^[3].

As of August 25, 2015, according to representatives of the NSPK, it became known: the technical platform for the processing and clearing centers of the system is a Russian development. Own software is used in security systems and for the operation of bank card chips under the Mir brand, which the company will have to service from December 2015.

All source codes of the software complex now belong to the National Payment Card System, representatives of the company said in the media, but did not deny that during the development of the software they were forced to buy a license to use the Java language in a commercial product from Oracle and attracted Anton Korytov, ex-general director of the Russian division of the Belgian company OpenWay.

Previously, it was reported about the participation of OpenWay in the development of all software for the "National Payment Card System." NSPK itself chose the Russian division of the company as a supplier.

As the NSPK assures, all this does not make the final product ordinary or non-independent. The ratio of the source code of the NSPK systems to the Belgian OpenWay in the company was called "indirect."

The decision to create in Russia its own national system of payment cards was made by the authorities in 2014. The system itself began operating on April 1, 2015, the first cards under its Mir brand are expected to be released in December 2015.

2014

The first banks test NSPK

In December 2014, Russian banks began testing the technology platform of the national payment card system (NSPK). This was told by the media in a number of banks participating in the pilot connection. Testing is carried out through the created operational and payment clearing center (OCCC).

system does not occur at the same time, this is a long work that is currently underway. There are no difficulties yet, "Yuri Mironov, vice president of the Ural Bank for Reconstruction and Development (UBRD), told TASS.

The start of test operations through the OCCC was confirmed and in. Alfa-Bank"Participation in testing on our part is voluntary. All domestic transactions should be processed through the NSPK over time. It was stated that the processing of transactions through NSPK on international cards will be based on the same principles as now when processing through international payment systems, "said Sergey Brynin, director of issues and settlements at the Alfa Bank processing center.

In addition to these banks, SMP-Bank, AB Rossiya, Gazprombank, as well as Rosbank, which fell under the sanctions, take part in the pilot.

The Central Bank contributed 500 million rubles to the authorized capital of the NSPK

In August 2014, the Central Bank of the Russian Federation allocated 500 million rubles for the creation of the National Payment Card System (NSPK). The regulator contributed this amount to the authorized capital of NSPK OJSC. In total, 5 thousand shares were issued with a par value of 100 thousand rubles, according to media reports.

According to the charter, OJSC NSPK has the right to issue an additional 40 thousand shares of the same denomination (that is, 4 billion rubles). "In this case, the authorized capital of the OJSC will grow to 4.5 billion rubles," the media said.

The charter prohibits any companies and banks (except the Central Bank itself) from acquiring more than 10% of NSPK. It is allowed to reduce the share of the Bank of Russia below 50%, but at the same time it will still have control over the company. Control, according to the charter, will be carried out with the help of a special representative of the Bank of Russia, who will have the right to veto any decisions made by shareholders.

Earlier, the project to create a NSPK was estimated by the Central Bank at 9-10 billion rubles. In accordance with the charter, the regulator will always have the right to veto any decisions of shareholders.

Decision to create NSPK "from scratch" in the new OJSC

The technological platform of the national payment card system (NSPK) will be built from scratch. This was reported in July 2014 by RIA Novosti with reference to the Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Financial Market Committee Anatoly Aksakov^[4]

Anatoly Aksakov told the agency about the decision of the expert commission under the Central Bank of the Russian Federation as follows:

"The decision has been made. We decided to build on our own basis. " According to him, this decision is most likely final, "and more expert meetings are not planned."

The operator of the National Payment Card System will be a new OJSC controlled by the Central Bank of the Russian Federation.

Thus, the hopes of the two main contenders for the provision of their systems as the basis for NSPK were not realized: the PRO100 payment system, developed by Sberbank-owned Universal Electronic Card and the Golden Crown payment system, supported by the Novosibirsk Financial Technology Center.

According to Aksakov, "developments (of various companies - approx. CNews) will be used, but the creation of the technological basis will be carried out on its own platform. The operating time will be used for inter-bridge connections, for the development of their own product. "

Aksakov says that it will take one year to create the NSPK operational and clearing center, and the first national payment card will be issued in 18 months.

The decisions of the expert commission regarding the support of the NSPK of international payment standards and its future compatibility with international payment systems RIA Novosti are not reported.

Challenger systems: PRO100, Golden Crown or Union Card?

At the time of finalizing the draft law for the second reading in April 2014, the Bank of Russia created a working group with the participation of representatives of the State Duma, the Federation Council, the Ministry of Finance and major financial organizations, the task of which is to create a model of the NSPK operator, determine its organizational and legal form and legislative aspects of regulation. This was announced by the Deputy Head of the Department of the Central Bank Roman Prokhorov at a round table organized by the State Duma Committee on Science and Science-Intensive Technologies on April 16, 2014.

According to him, this group should also determine the technological platform for the creation of the NSPK. Prokhorov expressed the opinion that a difficult situation has developed in terms of this choice: in each of the existing Russian solutions that could become such a platform, there are pros and cons, he explained.

Golden Crown is among the contenders to become the technological basis of the national payment card system

Prokhorov noted that there is a PRO100 payment application created by Sberbank ( used in UEC cards), which can be served in about 50% of the existing card infrastructure. As of April, it is being audited for readiness to become the basis for the creation of the NSPK. At the same time, PRO100 is a licensed MasterCard technology, Prokhorov added.

On April 14, 2014, UEC announced the first results of checking the readiness of the payment system PRO100 become the base of NSPK, according to which it is ready to ensure financial transactions on all bank cards issued in Russia by 40% (with compliance with the availability level of "99.999") and 55% (with a decrease in requirements to "99.9"). During the round table in the State Duma, however, Roman Prokhorov noted that until the final completion of the audit, PRO100 decision on the technological platform will not be made.

In addition to the payment application PRO100 in Russia there is also the Golden Crown payment system, which is a patented domestic development and also claims to become a reference for NSPK. In addition, Russia has a domestic payment system Union Card. Roman Prokhorov told TAdviser that one of the options could also be to create a payment system from scratch. The media also featured information that the creation of the NSPK can use technologies and developments of two systems at once - the PRO100 and the Golden Crown.

According to one of the Russian business publications, on April 18, the Central Bank summed up the voting on the national payment system, which was proposed by the regulator, all members of the working group and other banks through the Association of Russian Banks and the Russia Association. Banks had to choose whether to create NPSs from scratch or based on existing systems. The majority voted against the creation of NPS based on existing payment systems.

Anatoly Aksakov, Deputy Chairman of the Financial Market Committee, in turn, during a round table in the State Duma on April 16 expressed the opinion that the choice of the system that will become the basis of the national payment card system should be carried out through a competition.

112-FZ Law on the Establishment of the NSPK

On May 5, 2014, the 112-FZ Law was passed, providing for the creation of the NSPK in order to "ensure the uninterrupted provision of money transfer services" within the country. In addition to it, six months later, the 319-FZ law was also introduced, according to which all transactions using international payment cards (including Visa) in the Russian Federation should be carried out using the NSPK infrastructure. Full responsibility for the implementation of the project was assigned to the Central Bank of Russia, which created for its implementation OJSC NSPK (100% property of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation).

The National Payment Card System (NSPK) will be created on the basis of OpenWay technologies, and de jure the supplier of technologies will be a Russian company, the Kommersant newspaper reported in October 2014. The publication writes that NSPK has completed the selection of suppliers to create a technological platform on the basis of which an alternative to international payment systems (IPS) will be created.

According to the newspaper, the structure associated with the Belgian company will be announced as the winner of the tender held by the Central Bank. OpenWay Service OpenWay is a well-known developer of card and processing technology in the payment and banking industries. Way4 It is its technologies that, in Russia particular, are used by "," UEC a processing company, etc UCS.

With all this, Kommersant writes, the official supplier of the technological solution is likely to be Openway Solutions LLC, owned by Russians. This configuration allows you to comply with the requirement that at least a quarter of the software used by Russian payment systems claiming the status of nationally significant should be developed by Russian legal entities and belong to them.

Russia decides to create its own system

Vladislav Reznik

On March 27, 2014, President Vladimir Putin announced that Russia should create its own uninterrupted payment system, as in Japan or China. The first deputy chairman of the State Duma Committee on the Financial Market Vladislav Reznik submitted to the State Duma a bill on amendments to the Federal Law "On the National Payment System," aimed at ensuring the uninterrupted implementation of money transfers within its framework.

In early April, this bill was adopted by the State Duma in the first reading. The adopted version of the document provided that in order to ensure the uninterrupted transfer of funds, operators and participants in the payment system, as well as settlement centers, do not have the right to unilaterally refuse to provide the relevant services.

The other norm contained in the bill obliges operators located in Russia to attract operating and clearing centers located in Russia when making money transfers.

In addition, the document prohibits operational and payment clearing centers from transmitting information on money transfers made from Russia to the territory of a foreign state, with the exception of cross-border transfers.

In mid-April, Reznik's bill was considered by the Russian government and supported by it, subject to the revision of the document for the second reading. The government, in particular, proposed to strengthen the responsibility of payment systems operators by supplementing the bill with the requirement on the obligation of the payment system operator to ensure the uninterrupted operation of the payment system, as well as immediately inform the Bank of Russia and payment system participants about cases of suspension or termination of the provision of money transfer services. According to the government, it is necessary to provide for an increase in the property liability of the payment system operator in the law.

It was also proposed to provide for in the bill norms aimed at including the ruble in the list of settlement currencies of the CLS payment system and directly providing for the possibility of direct participation in the Russian payment system of foreign banks performing the functions of central payment clearing counterparties. According to the government, it is also necessary to include in the bill a provision on the creation of a settlement and clearing center in the form of an OJSC, 100% of the shares of which would belong to the Bank of Russia.

Another point that the government considered necessary in the bill is the consolidation in it of requirements for the national payment card system (NSPK), its legal status, as well as the functions and features of regulation by the Bank of Russia.

Following US sanctions, Visa and Mastercard block customer cards of two Russian banks

The creation of the NSPK was a response to problems with the international payment systems Visa and Mastercard, which arose from several Russian banks. In March 2014, immediately after the reunification of Russia and Crimea, the US government imposed sanctions on a number of Russian politicians and businessmen. Among them was Yuri Kovalchuk, together with the Bank of Russia he created, as well as brothers Boris and Arkady Rotenberg.

Immediately after that, Visa and Mastercard payment systems Visa and MasterCard, without warning, stopped conducting transactions on the cards of several Russian banks for several days, including Yuri Kovalchuk's Rossiya Bank and the Rotenberg Brothers' NSR Bank. It was possible to withdraw cash from cards only in offices and ATMs of the same banks.

As of March 21, 2014, the list of organizations, in addition to Rossiya Bank and SMP Bank, also included Sobinbank and Investkapitalbank. The list also included 20 individuals, including businessmen close to President Vladimir Putin and a number of employees of the Kremlin administration.

During a round table in the State Duma on April 16, 2014, Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Committee on Science and Science-Intensive Technologies Alexei Chepa noted that the blocking of international payment systems undertaken by third countries against a number of Russian banks and their clients "clearly exposed the problem of the security of domestic strategic information infrastructure, primarily in the financial sphere." In his opinion, in such conditions, domestic developments are of particular importance, designed to ensure resistance to any external intervention.

Alexey Chepa believes that the creation of a national payment system by analogy with the Japanese JCB or the Chinese UnionPay will ensure control over the vital sphere of the country. Such a system can be created within one to two months by combining the existing settlement systems of banks, he believes. In the slightly longer term, it is possible to create a single settlement center.

One of the most pressing issues in terms of the infrastructure of the national payment system, Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Committee on Science and Science-Intensive Technologies considers the issue of security. The modern level of production allows you to make bookmarks that destroy or reformat any technological system in the interests of a hostile country. In this regard, the question arises of reorienting to cooperation with politically loyal producing countries, primarily China and India, he believes.

"The joint creation and use of an element base and software will protect the participants of the megaconsorcium from mutual bookmarks, making them simply meaningless," the deputy said.

For all this to be reflected in the legislation, a package of technical regulations in the field of strategic information systems is needed, said Alexey Chepa. It will be necessary to amend the law on information protection: in particular, it is necessary to develop criteria for classifying information systems as strategic and clarify the concept of critical government information systems by defining general requirements for them.

Roman Prokhorov from the Central Bank during the round table, in turn, noted that the bank will not be able to prevent the shutdown of international transactions on cards of foreign payment systems used by Russians: they were and will be processed abroad.

As for domestic card operations, according to Prokhorov, Russia has already created a significant infrastructure and channels of interbank interaction, which allow servicing customers of one bank in acquiring points and ATMs of another without using operating centers of international payment systems. This was done in March during the period of suspension of processing transactions on cards of several Russian banks by Visa and MasterCard systems.

The immediate task of the Central Bank as of April 2014 is to create such channels for those cases where they are absent, Prokhorov said. According to the Central Bank, this process should be completed during the summer of 2014.

2010: NSPK predecessor - UEC

In 2010, the Universal Electronic Card project was launched (also in pursuance of the law adopted then), which was carried out under the auspices of the Russian government, and Sberbank was appointed the actual architect and executor of the project. The ambitiousness of the project was that the UEC was supposed to perform not only the functions of a bank card, but also act as a universal identification tool for a citizen of the country (passport data, information about key personal documents, electronic signature, travel ticket, etc.). The universal issuance of UEC was scheduled for January 1, 2014, but in 2013 this period was postponed exactly one year^[5].

However, the crisis that occurred in March 2014 in relations between Russia and the West showed that in fact no significant domestic alternative to foreign systems Visa MasterCard has been created, the prospects for the development of the UEC are not encouraging, and the Russian banking system in terms of working with bank cards almost completely depends on Western processing centers. All this was clearly demonstrated by the example of the introduction of Western sanctions against three Russian banks.

Notes