The departure of international payment systems Visa and Mastercard from Russia led to the emergence of services for getting payment cards for Russians in Kazakhstan, Tengrinews reports.

Simple but not

In early March, the international systems of Visa and Mastercard announced the suspension of operations in Russia. According to the Bank of Russia, Visa and Mastercard payment cards will continue to operate in the country until the expiration date, but cross-border transactions and purchases in foreign online stores are now unavailable.

For Russians who want to make online transactions, conduct international transfers, and pay by card on overseas trips, opening a bank card in Kazakhstan quickly became an attractive prospect.

As it stands, opening bank accounts for non-residents in Kazakhstan is a simple procedure, but it is impossible to perform it remotely.

"On the territory of Russia, there are many ads on the Internet for the provision of intermediary services for opening cards in Kazakhstan. These services are offered both by legal companies and by newcomers creating thematic groups on WhatsApp and Telegram. The latter, as a rule, work privately - without registration, contracts, and any legal guarantees".

So far, the process of opening a bank account is as follows: the customer sends a copy of their passport and notarized power of attorney by courier service to Kazakhstan, pays for the service, and receives a document on the assignment of IIN, a plastic card and a sim card of a Kazakh telephone operator.

Future trend

Kazakhstani banks note the growing number of Russian citizens opening bank accounts.

"The number of applications for opening multicurrency cards from Russian citizens began to grow from mid-March. It’s too early to give the exact statistics on the opening of cards for this category of clients and any analytics on their operations," commented a bank representative.

At the same time, bankers wearily note their observations of the formation of a new market trend.

"If this trend becomes widespread, we can not exclude the emergence of some additional restrictions by international payment systems in relation to Kazakhstan's banks."