Mastercard agrees Russian processing deal: MasterCard has agreed to transfer all its card processing functions within Russia to the local state-owned system, Russia’s Central Bank announced yesterday (January 12). The arrangement, which will not affect cardholders, was agreed on December 30 and is in line with Russian law. The company previously used its own processing system outside Russia, but Russian authorities last year passed a law obliging foreign card companies that had stopped providing services for those Russian bank subject to Western sanctions, to move Russian processing to the local system or pay a hefty security deposit. The Moscow Times