BC Card, Industry's First to Handle Domestic Acquiring for Russian Payment Brand 'Mir'

Russian Citizens Can Use Mir Card at 3.2 Million BC Card Merchants Nationwide Without Separate Currency Exchange

[Asia Economy Reporter Ki Ha-young] BC Card announced on the 29th that it will be the first in the industry to handle domestic acquiring services for Russia's domestic and international dual-use payment brand 'Mir' in South Korea.

Mir is a domestic and international dual-use payment brand launched by NSPK, a payment and settlement institution under the Central Bank of Russia. According to NSPK, Mir brand cards are currently issued by 158 local banks including those in Russia, and approximately 99 million cards have been issued cumulatively from its launch in December 2015 until April this year.

Until now, Russian nationals could only make payments in South Korea using cash or other international brand cards. However, through this collaboration, Russian nationals can now use credit and debit cards issued under the Mir brand directly at BC Card merchant stores in Korea without separate currency exchange or international brand cards.

To this end, since May last year, both companies have been partnering and cooperating to build a payment network infrastructure that does not require a separate international brand company. BC Card plans to continuously enhance the payment infrastructure to ensure error-free use of Mir brand cards at all 3.2 million domestic merchant stores.

According to data analyzed by BC Card, before the spread of COVID-19 in 2019, about 340,000 Russian tourists visited Korea, and this number has been steadily growing by about 13% annually.

Choi Won-seok, CEO of BC Card, said, "Through cooperation with NSPK, we have once again demonstrated the strength of BC Card's processing technology and the largest payment infrastructure in Korea." He added, "We will continue to enhance payment convenience for Russian visitors to Korea and contribute to increased exchanges between the two countries through differentiated technology and payment infrastructure capabilities."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.