HAVANA, Cuba (AFP) — Visa and Mastercard payments in Cuba will be suspended from Saturday after United States (US) sanctions prompted a foreign bank to sever ties with a state-backed financial institution, Cuba’s central bank said Wednesday.

“On June 2, we received a communication from the foreign bank that processes transactions carried out in Cuba using Visa and Mastercard, informing us of its decision to terminate its relationship with Fincimex SA,” the central bank said in a statement.

Fincimex is the financial arm of Cuba’s US-sanctioned military conglomerate GAESA.