Russia's largest banks initiated consultations on the establishment of a national payment system. 

      VTB Board Chairman Andrei Kostin announced that Russia's largest banks have initiated consultations on the establishment of the national payment system. He said this in the interview with "Vesti on Saturday Sergei Brilyov." He noted that the association of already existing domestic payment systems allows creating in two months a system, which will make possible to use previously issued cards in all terminals of all major Russian banks. 

      "It can be done within the country. And this will cover approximately 90% of payments that our citizens make annually. This may be accomplished literally within two months,” Kostin said. "But another question is recognition abroad… But there are different approaches as well. We can try to unite with the Chinese Union Pay system. It has been established long time ago…Today the issue cannot be put off. Generally speaking, this is the question of protecting the interests of our citizens," the Head of VTB said.