PayPal Suspends Operations in Russia

PayPal Holdings Inc. said Saturday it is suspending operations in Russia, the latest financial services company to distance itself from the country because of the attack on Ukraine.

The move follows the big U.S. payments company's decision earlier this week to suspend taking on new accounts in Russia. Together they reinforce actions that isolate Russia from the global financial system. A PayPal spokesman said the company had a small number of employees in Russia.

"Under the current circumstances, we are suspending PayPal services in Russia," Dan Schulman, PayPal's chief executive, said in a statement. The exit will take some time as the company works to process customer withdrawals to ensure that account balances are dispersed in line with applicable laws and regulations, a PayPal spokesperson said.

Earlier this month, U.S. payment card networks, Visa Inc. and Mastercard Inc. stopped handling transactions for Russian-sanctioned financial institutions. In practice, this means that many Russians are blocked from making purchases of goods or services outside the country.

PayPal said it is also suspending its international money-transfer service Xoom in Russia. That is consistent with rivals such as Remitly Global Inc. and Wise PLC that have taken the same action. Russia's central bank has blocked or placed limits on customers moving money out of the country using banks and money transfer services.

Source: The Wall Street Journal