American Express suspends operations in Russia and Belarus

By Ramishah Maruf, CNN Business

American Express is the latest credit card company to announce it is ending its operations in Russia as its invasion into Ukraine escalates.

On Sunday, the company said in a statement that globally issued American Express cards will no longer work in Russia, and cards issued in Russia won’t work outside the country.

American Express also said it is ending its business operations in Belarus.

“This is in addition to the previous steps we have taken, which include halting our relationships with banks in Russia impacted by the US and international government sanctions,” American Express said in a statement Sunday.

In a memo from chairman and CEO Stephen Squeri, American Express said it does not employ anyone directly in Ukraine but it does have “dozens of colleagues” in Russia.

Other credit card companies have taken similar steps this weekend.

Mastercard said Saturday it was suspending its network services in Russia. Cards supported by Russian banks will not work in Mastercard’s network, and any cards issued outside of Russia will not work within the country.

“Our colleagues, our customers and our partners have been affected in ways that most of us could not imagine,” Mastercard said in a statement Saturday. “This decision flows from our recent action to block multiple financial institutions from the Mastercard payment network, as required by regulators globally.”

The company, which has operated in Russia for more than 25 years, had previously announced that it had “blocked multiple financial institutions” from its network as a result of sanctions on Russia and would “continue to work with regulators in the days ahead.”

Visa said Saturday it is suspending all of its operations in Russia. Over the next few days, it will end all Visa transactions within Russia, and Visa cards issued in Russia will no longer work outside of the country. In addition, all Visa cards worldwide “will no longer work within the Russian Federation,” Visa said.

“We regret the impact this will have on our valued colleagues, and on the clients, partners, merchants and cardholders we serve in Russia,” Visa Chairman and CEO Al Kelly said in a statement Saturday.

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