The head of the NSPK announced the appearance of an analog of Apple Pay in the applications of Russian banks

Some Russian banks have already begun to integrate an analog of Apple Pay, which works via Bluetooth, into their applications. Dmitry Dubynin, Director General of the National Payment Card System (NSPK), shared this with Izvestia on June 18 on the sidelines of SPIEF 2025.

"The pilot is already underway, several banks have announced that they have successfully piloted the acquiring part, which ensures the purchase of a trade and service company. There are banks that integrate the possibility of payment using the Wave into their mobile application," he noted.

It is specified that the payment application will work according to the principle of Apple Pay, regardless of the operating system installed on the phone. At the same time, payment can be made via Bluetooth using mobile services.

In addition, Dubynin recalled that the NSPK provided the first prototype back in October 2024. At that time, the institution's specialists, together with banks, considered the question of how to properly create a service in terms of convenience for customers.

"It is important to put on the market what will be as convenient and safe as possible, so we are in the process. As promised, all documentation was prepared within two quarters of 2025, submitted to the market, and a pilot was launched," the head of the NSPK said.

The specific dates and release date of the service are not specified. The NSPK added that for a full-fledged release, many issues will have to be worked out, in particular, with terminals.

Superfluous contacts: Russia intends to launch a full-fledged analog of Apple Pay in 2025th

How the new technology will work and whether it will be more convenient than post-it notes

In November last year, Dmitry Malykh, senior vice president of Sberbank, said that Russian banks are working on a new mechanism for paying for purchases via Bluetooth, which will become an analogue of Apple Pay. The initiative will allow customers to pay for purchases by simply attaching a smartphone to the terminal, regardless of the device's operating system — Android or iOS.