Cuba says Visa and Mastercard payments will end June 6 amid U.S. sanctions

Cuba’s central bank said it has been notified that Visa and Mastercard payment services in the country will cease as of June 6, after an overseas financial institution that processes those card transactions informed the bank it would interrupt its relationship with Fincimex S.A. The decision, according to the central bank, is intended to avoid sanctions risk connected to a U.S. executive order issued May 1.

In reporting the change, the central bank linked it directly to Executive Order No. 14404, which targets a broad set of Cuban activities described in the order as tied to repression and threats to U.S. national security and foreign policy. The central bank said the processor’s termination is tied to the executive order and that, as a result, Cuba cannot receive revenue from sales of goods and services using “widely accepted international payment cards such as Visa and Mastercard.”

The central bank said it received the relevant communication on June 2 and that the overseas bank would stop carrying out the agreements with the Cuban entity starting June 6, the date when the order’s provisions take effect. It did not identify the overseas bank in its public statement as reported by international wire services.

Reporting based on the central bank’s announcement also described Fincimex as the Cuban remittance and financial organization that processes Visa and Mastercard transactions. Other coverage in Spanish and English outlets said the cut-off reflects pressure related to the U.S. sanctions framework and that Fincimex operations with Visa and Mastercard were expected to stop around the implementation window.

The central bank said Cuba’s remaining options for foreign-currency payments include cash and cards already available inside the country, including prepaid cards “Clásica” and “Tropical,” plus international cards such as Mir and UnionPay. Xinhua similarly reported that other methods for foreign currency transactions would remain available, even as Visa and Mastercard services were set to stop.

Visa and Mastercard are card-payment networks, not card issuers and not the banks that handle authorization and settlement in any specific country. In general terms, they operate in a four-party payment model where cardholders’ issuers and merchants’ acquiring institutions connect through the network for authorization, clearing, and settlement. Visa describes itself as a payments technology company that facilitates transactions between consumers, sellers, financial institutions, and governments across hundreds of countries, and says it provides the network rather than issuing cards itself.

Mastercard similarly describes its switching and transaction processing as involving three core activities, authorization, clearing, and settlement, using its platform systems and worldwide network that links issuers and acquirers. Mastercard’s public terms also state that it is not a financial institution and does not issue cards. In this Cuba case, that distinction matters, because the central bank’s account points to a processor and relationship change on the Cuban side rather than a public statement from either network operator.

What to watch next is whether Cuban authorities and Fincimex clarify how existing Visa and Mastercard transactions will be handled during the transition window, and whether the alternative rails that the central bank cited, such as Mir, UnionPay, and domestic prepaid cards, expand in merchant acceptance. The central bank’s announcement also leaves open how quickly the disruption will propagate across payment channels, since it did not disclose the processor’s identity or the exact operational steps that will be taken to end processing.