Russian Mail.Ru is forming a joint venture with Alibaba’s mobile payments division Alipay, Reuters reported on Wednesday (Oct. 9).
The partnership also includes the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) and Russian mobile group Megafon.
Dubbed AliExpress Russia, the company will be dictated by Russian investors and will tackle the country’s $14 billion eCommerce marketplace.
RDIF’s Kirill Dmitriev told Reuters that AliExpress will help Russian companies enter Asian markets.
Mail.Ru told Reuters that the Alipay deal will let Russian users pay digitally.
In other Russia payments news, Visa said it will comply with a Russian law that says international payments systems have to process transactions for the country despite U.S. sanctions, according to reports.
Visa said Russia is an important market for the company in terms of strategy, and the new law won’t require it to leave the country.
“Visa is committed to its mission of ensuring the smooth operation of non-cash payments for all participants of the payment system – banks, merchants [retail businesses] and consumers,” Visa said, adding that it won’t talk third-party opinions “based on assumptions and personal view of the author.”
The Bank of Russia said it is confident that all payment systems in the country will continue. “Amendments are aimed at ensuring conformity of the activity of all payment system operators with the Russian law,” the bank said. “We are confident all the payment systems will work just as before. We do not see reasons for concern.”
Head of the State Duma Financial Market Committee Anatoly Aksakov said that all international payment systems need to do is change their rules to line up with Russian regulations and everything will continue normally. If a violation happens, Aksakov said, the organization in question will be fined just as if it were a Russian one would.
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