Bereke Bank resumes accepting transactions with Mastercard

Bereke Bank announced that it has restored transactions with cards issued by Mastercard.

As the bank highlighted, the restoration of cooperation with Mastercard took three months, which is two times faster than any similar experience across the globe. As of now, Bereke clients will be able to use Mastercard in Kazakhstan and abroad as usual. They can pay for their online purchases, make money transfers or withdraw cash from any ATMs.

According to Andrey Timchenko, CEO of Bereke Bank, the bank was connected to the Mastercard system as a new member. However, the bank hasn’t provided any timeframes for resuming transactions via Visa and other international payment systems. In June, Timchenko promised that the bank’s cards would work as usual «in a month or so.»

In its previous life (until September 2022), Bereke Bank was controlled by the Russian Sberbank and was ranked the second-biggest bank in terms of assets in Kazakhstan. In the spring of 2022, the Russian parent company and its Kazakhstani subsidiary were placed on the SDN list by the U.S. government, which meant that all their assets should be frozen, while all Western companies, including international payment systems, were supposed to stop their relations with these sanctioned banks.

Over the period of 18 months cards issued by the bank were accepted only in its own ATMs and in those shops where Sberbank (and then Bereke Bank) was responsible for acquiring.

After the national holding of Baiterek bought the bank in September 2022, the new management sought ways to get rid of any restrictions. In March 20223, the U.S. government lifted sanctions from Bereke Bank.