Against the backdrop of unprecedented sanctions imposed against Russia, more and more Western companies are afraid of getting hurt due to their presence in the Russian market.
The escape of Western business is a stable tendency of recent months, and Russia is increasingly feeling the losses. Among the latest trends is the withdrawal from Russia of the French company Thales e-Security, engaged in encryption of payments. Therefore, contactless payment and even payment using a pin code may soon become unavailable in Russia. In addition, the impossibility of using security services will entail the forced provision of customers with unsecured access to online banking. Banking sector and international companies that continue to stay on the Russian market will suffer from this first. Also, the solvency of Russians will massively fall and the number of fraudsters will rapidly increase. For example, according to the statement of the management of ALFA-BANK, as a result of a possible leakage of personal data, the risk of unhindered access by fraudsters to funds on bank cards of customers increases. In this regard, the bank’s management decided to block bank cards containing more than 200 thousand roubles, and also suspended the possibility of transferring funds by customers from deposit accounts to card accounts.
The decision of Thales e-Security to withdraw from Russia is based on the complex effect of sanctions that make Russia more and more dependent and insolvent. The lack of reliable protection of bank deposits and money transfers is the most important component of the safe functioning of a business. If Russia does not find an alternative to Thales e-Security products, then damage to foreign companies remaining on the Russian market is a matter of time. There are a number of Cypriot companies that continue to operate on the Russian market. Among them, there are Avia Solutions Group, Wargaming, Columbia Shipmanagement, Leptos Estates, Bank of Cyprus, Hellenic Bank, Cyprus Airways, 1XBet, Betwinner. For the above reasons and the lack of security of funds transfers in the banking sector of the Russian Federation, these companies may incur significant losses in the near future.