Mastercard and Visa have blocked multiple financial institutions from their payment networks in response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

The actions by the card schemes comes just days after Western allies agreed measures to exclude Russian banks from the Swift messaging network amid a slew of new financial sanctions.

In a statement, Mastercard CEO Michael Miebach says: "As a result of sanction orders, we have blocked multiple financial institutions from the Mastercard payment network. We will continue to work with regulators in the days ahead to abide fully by our compliance obligations as they evolve."

About four percent of Mastercard's net revenues in 2021 was derived from business conducted within, into and out of Russia and roughly 2% of its net revenues was related to Ukraine, totalling $1.1 billion in annual takings.

Visa says it has also blocked sanctioned banks from its payment rails.

The two companies have also made donations of $2 million apiece to the Red Cross, Save the Children and employee assistance funds for humanitarian relief.

Miebach says Mastercard is also stepping up its cybersecurity monitoring, "the threat of which is heightened significantly in the present environment".

In the world of fintech, money transfer network Wise has placed a daily £200 transaction limit on transfers to Russia, while Paysera has stopped processing any transactions to Russian accounts.