Russian based electronic payment service Yandex.Money has announced the introduction of a new service that enables multi-currency accounts and cards.
In addition to rubles, the service will enable users to retain money and pay in 10 foreign currencies: US dollars, euros, British pounds, Japanese yen, Chinese yuan, Swiss francs, Czech korunas, Polish zloty, Belarusian rubles, and Kazakhstani tenges.
Users of the service will not have to switch currencies in order to pay for a purchase abroad with the card as the service will independently determine which one to use for the payment.
Alla Savchenko, Director of Products at Yandex.Money said: “We expect the Yandex.Money multi-currency cards to be popular with a wide variety of users.
“People residing or vacationing abroad will feel comfortable in any country, saving on currency conversion and not wasting time on switching between accounts.”
Initially the new service will only be available to a limited number of users; consumers will be able to open an account in any foreign currency for free, and add money to it from a ruble account.
Yandex.Money will become the first company in Russia to offer cashback for payments in 10 currencies at once. Cashback for payments on purchases in foreign currency will be charged the same as for payments in rubles.
“Users who want to save money can earn cashback for paying for purchases from the account of any currencies available from the service. Further on, freelancers will be able to receive earnings in foreign currency from foreign clients in the usual manner, to e-wallets,” explained Savchenko.
Yandex.Money serves 46 million registered wallets and around 800 thousand physical cards and 17 million virtual cards of the Mastercard payment system.
