The Bank of Russia refused to allow Sberbank, Alfa Bank and T-Bank to create their own payment system. About this Reports RBC with reference to the sources (the publication material is under subscription, Retells Forbes).
According to the publication, the regulator rejected all models of this system proposed by banks, explaining that there will be no alternative to the national payment card system on the Russian market.
RBC’s interlocutors explained that the Central Bank rejected the initial concept, which includes payment using cards, and the next version, which relies on payment using QR codes.
The idea of creating an alternative payment system was first expressed by the head of Sberbank, German Gref, in the summer of 2023. Then the head of the Central Bank Elvira Nabiullina said that she was not against creating an additional, but not an alternative, means of payment.
One of the publication’s interlocutors added that in May 2026, at a meeting between representatives of the Central Bank and bankers, the regulatory body took a “tough” position. As the source pointed out, the central bank “has always been against the idea of a second payment system conceptually.”
Two sources from RBC said that banks continue to work on an alternative payment system, including people from NSPK. The Central Bank invited banks to participate in the NSPK.
In October 2025, it was reported that Sberbank, Alfa Bank and T-Bank were working on creating an alternative payment system. It will have QR codes, payments via biometrics and Bluetooth, and “other card alternative technologies,” said T-Bank’s director of key ecosystem products, Sergey Khromov. Sberbank said that the issue of cards is not excluded, but there is no need to start with it.