Pavel Vrublevsky was released last week after spending 6 months in Lefortovo prison in Moscow, following his arrest in June of 2011 for organizing a distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack on the website of Assist, a competitor of his company, Chronopay. A leading Russian online payment processing company, Chronopay processes almost half of all Visa and …
Russia’s national telecommunication operator Rostelecom and Bank Saint Petersburg announced last Thursday the issue of their first co-branded bank cards with microchips containing the electronic signature of the cardholder. Certified by the FSB, Russia’s Federal Security Service, the cards are being produced in partnership with Mastercard and Sitronics, the largest producer of microelectronic devices in the …
Rostelecom, Sitronics and Mastercard issue first bank card with e-government access Read More
Major Russian mobile operator Megafon and global payment card giant Visa presented the Megafon-Visa Online Card last week. Megafon subscribers need only send an SMS request to receive the virtual card, which allows them to pay for any goods or services offered online using the money available on their mobile account.
DST, Russia’s leading IT fund with stakes in Facebook, Groupon, Twitter and other top global web properties, has participated in a round of financing for Klarna, a Stockholm based alternative payment solution provider. Also participating in the round were General Atlantic, a leading global private equity firm, and Sequoia Capital, which contributed to Klarna’s financing …
Russian electronic payment company Qiwi announced on Tuesday it has issued Qiwi Visa, a new type of plastic card, in partnership with global payment giant Visa. Using the new card provides owners of Qiwi electronic wallets (‘Qiwi Koshelek‘) with the same advantages as a standard Visa card. Card holders can make purchases at online as …
Russian search giant Yandex is holding talks with Russian banks to negotiate the sale of a stake in its e-currency service Yandex.Dengi (Yandex Money), said Yandex CEO Arkady Volozh in an exchange with journalists last week. Yandex is considering the move as a means of compliance with new legislation on payments systems passed in the …
Yandex.Dengi in talks with Russian banks to comply with new law on payment systems Read More
Moscow city court confirmed almost two months of extended detention for prominent Russian Internet businessman Pavel Vrublevsky, who is expected to be held until December 23. The court has rejected an appeal filed by Vrublevsky’s attorneys to release the entrepreneur on bail for 30 million rubles, a sum of almost $1 million. Vrublevsky, 32, was …
ChronoPay owner Vrublevsky pleads guilty in cyber attack case, court extends detention Read More
Leading financial company Finam has invested $1 million in CreditCardsOnline.ru, a portal that aggregates credit card offerings from various banks and offers an online card application procedure. The news was reported yesterday by Russian business daily Kommersant, to whom an unnamed source revealed Finam had received a 25% stake in the company in exchange for …
Credit card aggregator secures $1 million in funding from leading financial company Read More
Leading Russian payment operator Qiwi is in talks with Western European mobile operators, including Orange, Vodafone and Telefonica, about launching a new, offline payment system for mobile phone bills in Europe. The Russian operator is also considering entering the US market, Russian daily RBC Daily reported yesterday.
Tele2 Russia announced yesterday the launch of Mobilny platezh (“Mobile payment”), which allows its subscribers to make payments from bank accounts with Visa, Mastercard, JCB International, or Diners Club cards.
Last week, payment terminal operator Qiwi announced that its users can now transfer money from their Qiwi electronic wallets – named Qiwi Koshelek – to Mastercard and Maestro cards accounts issued by banks from Russia and 24 other countries, primarily in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet republics.
New Federal legislation on payment systems was adopted by the Russian Duma on June 14 and signed into law by President Medvedev on June 27. The new law establishes the legal and organizational foundation for the country’s payment system and regulates the procedure for rendering payment services. The law recognizes four types of players who …
