Mir card operator not planning IPO in near future - Central Bank of Russia dept director
MOSCOW. Nov 11 (Interfax) - The National Payment Card System (NPCS, the Mir card operator) is not planning an IPO in the near future, the head of the Central Bank of Russia's national payment system department Alla Bakina said.
In late September 2025, the CBR published a report in which it said it would assess the possibility and mechanisms for transferring a number of NPCS services to private sector management. Among the possible scenarios, the sale of a stake or a spin-off of a number of services was considered. Later, the spin-off option was abandoned due to difficulties in its technical implementation, and it was decided to proceed with the sale of a minority stake in the NPCS, in which case the Central Bank must retain a controlling stake (at least 50% plus 1 share).
"It seems to me that at this stage there has been no talk of an IPO. We are discussing the sale, after all a partial sale, of a stake in the NPCS, and for now this is for professional market participants," Bakina said during the lecture "Who can disconnect your card? How Russia built payment sovereignty."
"After all, an IPO and admitting private unqualified investors is probably already the next stage in the development of the financial market, of sufficiently free circulation of shares. In the current situation, we do not yet see readiness either on our part as a shareholder, or probably on the part of the market, well, in the current conditions. So I think that an IPO is probably a bit later and a bit further off," she said.
The CBR previously said that the market valuation of the NPCS would take place before the end of 2026, and the deal itself would take place in 2027. As part of the partial privatization, it is planned that no more than 5% of the company's shares will be sold to one participant. Major banks, including T-Bank and Sovcombank, have expressed interest in possibly participating in the privatization of the NPCS.
CBR Governor Elvira Nabiullina said in late September that the market valuation of the NPCS is being completed, and negotiations with potential buyers that have signed NDAs (non-disclosure agreements) may begin in October. There is great interest in this, Nabiullina said.
The National Payment Card System was created in 2014 after a number of sanctions were introduced against Russia. The NPCS announced the start of issuance of the first Mir cards in December 2015. It also processes transactions on cards of the international payment systems Visa and Mastercard, which in March 2022 simultaneously announced the suspension of operations on the Russian market due to the conflict in Ukraine. The sole shareholder of NPCS is the Central Bank of Russia.
