Google has launched its Android Pay mobile payments service in Russia, allowing those with eligible Visa and Mastercard credit or debit cards issued from 15 supporting banks and financial institutions to make in-store and in-app payments using their compatible mobile devices.

Supporting banks include AK Bars, Alfa-Bank, B&N Bank, MTS Bank, Otkritie, Promsvyazbank, Raiffeisen Bank, Rocketbank, Russian Standard Bank, Russian Agricultural Bank, Sberbank, Tinkoff Bank, Tochka, VTB24 and online payment service Yandex.Money, which also offers support for Apple Pay and Samsung Pay.

Android Pay was integrated into the mobile banking apps of “several banks around the world” in April 2017, allowing users to add their cards to the mobile payments service with “just a click of a button” without having to download Android Pay to their device. This service is available to customers of Raiffeisen Bank, Sberbank and Tinkoff Bank in Russia.

“If you already have the Raiffeisen Bank, Sberbank or Tinkoff Bank mobile apps, you can enable Android Pay from those banking apps without having to download Android Pay,” Google’s Pali Bhat writes in a blog post. “Just tap the ‘Add to Android Pay’ button to enable your card in Android Pay without entering your card information.”

In-store support

Retailers listed as supporting Android Pay for in-store payments include Magnit, Perekrestok, Starbucks, KFC, Rosneft and more, with in-app supporting retailers including Lamoda, OneTwoTrip and Rambler-Kassa with “more coming soon”.

“Thousands of your favourite places already accept Android Pay — and with your loyalty cards saved in the Android Pay app, there’s no need to carry them around anymore,” Bhat adds.

Russia is the 11th country to adopt Android Pay, following launches in the US, UK, Singapore, Australia, Hong Kong, Poland, New Zealand, Republic of Ireland, Japan and Belgium.

Google’s director of engineering for payment products Varouj Chitilian revealed that the mobile payment service was heading to Russia at Google I/O 2017 last week, along with plans to launch in Brazil, Canada, Spain and Taiwan.

Apple Pay launched in Russia with support from Mastercard and Sberbank in October 2016. Samsung Pay made its Russian debut earlier in the same month. Yandex.Money saw a fivefold increase in the number of consumers using the service to pay for goods and services in 2016, following on from the launch of Apple Pay and Samsung Pay.