The Central Bank of the Russian Federation promised to support manufacturers of bank cards at adequate prices

According to Kommersant, the manufacturers, for their part, announced their readiness to provide the market with cards. Now the regulator has begun working with financial institutions to identify their needs for payment "plastic". It is assumed that they are about 10 million pieces per month. According to the publication's source, the Central Bank demanded that producers guarantee the needs of banks.

In March, the prices for blank Mir cards exceeded 9 euros, but now they cost about 7 euros, despite the fact that in the pre-pandemic period they issued 0.4 euros per piece. The rise in price occurs, first of all, because of the shortage of chips. The interlocutor of the publication indicates that even if they cost four or even five times more, the price of a bank card in this case still cannot exceed two euros.

The sources also pointed to the announcement of the conditions for support by the deputy chairman of the Central Bank, Olga Skorobogatova - we are talking about "adequate prices" for cards. The Central Bank cannot prohibit card manufacturers or oblige them to do something, however, there is a great threat to allow Chinese competitor manufacturers to enter the Russian market, because, as the interlocutors of the publication emphasize, “with its help, it is quite possible to achieve acceptable prices”.

In the meantime, Russians have begun to travel to Belarus to obtain Visa and MasterCard payment systems there, although such cards cannot be used in Russia. Citizens purchase them to pay for foreign services and subscriptions to the App Store and Google Play, as well as use them abroad.