Russia intends to prohibit Alipay, WeChat and other foreign electronic payments to provide services to local citizens

According to the Russian RBC report, Russia is planning to ban foreign electronic payment services, including Alipay and WeChat payment, to provide services to local citizens.

According to reports, the Russian State Duma proposed a national payment system legal amendment to prohibit Russian foreign payment systems (such as MoneyGram, Intel Express, etc.) and electronic payment services (such as Alipay, WeChat payment, etc.) to provide services to Russian citizens. The bill also requires foreign payment system operating companies that are not registered in Russia to open a representative office in Russia and obtain a transfer permit from the Russian Central Bank.

The bill introduces the concept of “foreign payment service provider”, which reports that the concept refers specifically to foreign payment companies such as China Alipay and WeChat Pay. In addition, the Russian bank will be able to request user information from these payment platforms to comply with local laws on combating money laundering.

The report mentioned that the Russian bank has the right to request service-related information from the operator representatives of the Russian payment system to enhance the transparency of consumption.

Russia intends to prohibit Alipay, WeChat and other foreign electronic payments to provide services to local citizens.