Shanghai (ots/PRNewswire) – UnionPay, one of the world’s leading providers of payment services, has opened a new chapter in its corporate history. The total number of countries and regions where UnionPay is accepted rose to 183, and the number of cards issued outside mainland China recently passed 230 million.
Thanks to its internationalization efforts over two decades, the company can provide more “Chinese solutions” to the global payments industry.
With the approval of the People’s Bank of China, UnionPay launched card services in Hong Kong on January 18, 2004, starting the internationalization course of Chinese bank card brands.
UnionPay International was founded in 2012 to drive international business. The international strategy evolved from the guiding principle of “Wherever the Chinese go, UnionPay card services follow them” to the broader approach of “global network, international brand” to better meet China’s goal of further opening up and high standards in the Set payment sector.
With the recent launch of UnionPay card services in El Salvador, the company now covers 66.4 million online and brick-and-mortar merchants worldwide outside mainland China. UnionPay cards have been issued in 81 countries and regions (excluding mainland China). UnionPay International currently cooperates with more than 2,600 institutions worldwide.
First choice for travelers
With the rapid development of China’s payment industry in the past two decades, UnionPay International has actively expanded its payment network services, diversified its product offerings and improved payment scenarios to serve both Chinese and international users engaged in trade and cooperation. to provide high quality payment services.
During the Lunar New Year, Chinese tourists celebrating around the world spotted UnionPay’s distinctive three-color logo everywhere, whether on the streets of Hong Kong and Macau or at merchants in Bangkok, Tokyo, Abu Dhabi and beyond.
According to a Nielsen report, UnionPay is now the international card brand accepted by the most points of sale worldwide. Since the first UnionPay transaction in Hong Kong, UnionPay cards have been used to make payments in 183 countries and regions around the world. Of these, 99 countries and regions support UnionPay mobile payment solutions. The UnionPay acceptance rate in Asia Pacific, Europe, North America and other regions has increased to about 80 percent.
In China’s Hong Kong and Macau Special Administrative Regions, the UnionPay app is accepted by hundreds of thousands of merchants, in South Korea by millions of merchants, and in Malaysia and Sri Lanka by almost all QR code merchants.
Through close collaboration with various industries, UnionPay International has built an extensive UnionPay payments ecosystem that enables cardholders to make convenient and hassle-free payments.
In 2023 alone, tourism offices in Australia, South Africa, Singapore, Thailand and Saudi Arabia, the international duty-free group DFS, the travel platform Trip.com and the tax refund agency Planet Tax Free, among others, have cooperated with UnionPay International to expand payment options for Improve scenarios such as hotel bookings, transport, restaurants and shopping.
Currently, UnionPay payment services are supported by more than 5,000 schools abroad, the world’s top 10 hotel groups, major airlines, cross-border transportation such as the China-Laos Railway Line, and public transportation in popular foreign destinations.
The close cooperation in cross-border payment transactions between commercial banks and UnionPay International enables personalized options. Some commercial banks have launched dedicated UnionPay card products, such as cross-border cashback cards, Prestige Asia, Tour South Korea-themed cards and many others, targeting a wide range of customer segments. By connecting to UnionPay’s Network Payment Platform app, the commercial banks’ apps can also directly use the UnionPay QR codes for acceptance abroad.
Globale Expansion
Since the resumption of cross-border travel, China has hosted successful international events such as the Canton Fair and the China International Import Expo, which require offering high-quality payment services for foreign visitors to China.
To date, more than 230 million UnionPay cards have been issued in 81 countries and regions outside mainland China, and 180 local UnionPay wallets have been established in 35 countries and regions. These diverse UnionPay payment solutions offer various features including card payments via swipe, scanning and cash withdrawal. They meet everyday needs, but also those of cross-border payment transactions, and position UnionPay as one of the preferred payment brands for foreign guests in China.
This development began with the acceptance of UnionPay payment cards in Hong Kong, where the Bank of China (Hong Kong) issued the first local UnionPay card that same year. This was the starting signal for the localization of UnionPay International’s business and the beginning of providing payment services to users around the globe.
To date, a total of 30 million UnionPay payment cards have been issued in the Greater Bay Area of Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macau. To date, 170 million payment cards have been issued in all countries and regions participating in the New Silk Road. In countries such as the United Arab Emirates, Kenya, Mongolia, Singapore and Kazakhstan, UnionPay has become the payment card of choice among local students, professionals and teachers and has become part of local everyday life.
In China, the cards can be used at almost all POS terminals and for almost all scenarios, such as using public transport, shopping via the Taobao app, booking tickets via the travel agency Trip.com, etc Ordering rides via the Didi app and ordering meals via the Meituan app.
Building on its experience in promoting QR code payments domestically, UnionPay has continuously expanded its mobile payment services to regions outside mainland China.
In 2018, a Hong Kong and Macau version of the UnionPay app was launched in Hong Kong. Since then, UnionPay International has developed innovative cooperation models and supports foreign wallets to integrate UnionPay cards or issue virtual UnionPay cards through their apps. This allows users to use familiar local payment solutions in mainland China without having to set up an additional account or download native apps. Authentication can be done through local institutions, eliminating the need to share sensitive personal data with third-party platforms.
China’s leading solution
UnionPay International offers high-quality payment services for users living abroad and cooperates with central banks, national payment networks and payment alliances in various countries to define technical standards for payment networks, QR codes and chip cards. In this way, the company promotes the spread of “Chinese solutions” in the global payments industry.
UnionPay International follows the trends of industrial development and actively seeks new strategies to benefit from global network advantages through the development of payment cards and mobile payment services.
In recent years, many countries have accelerated the development of local payment networks and improved interoperability between different networks. Since 2023, UnionPay International has worked with local networks in 15 countries and regions to expand QR code interoperability. Sixteen projects have already been implemented or are currently underway, including payment networks in Southeast Asian countries such as PayNet from Malaysia, NAPAS from Vietnam, Bakong from Cambodia and LAPNet from Laos. UnionPay QR code adoption outside mainland China has since increased to 6.5 million merchants in 45 countries and regions. This allowed UnionPay to establish itself as a payment solution with significant advantages in the Asia-Pacific region.
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Questions & Contact:
Shuting Ou,
oushuting@unionpayintl.com