On January 17, the Chinese Enterprises enter ASEAN and ASEAN Enterprises enter China (2016) Award Ceremony was held in Beijing. UnionPay International was awarded Top Ten Successful Chinese Enterprises in ASEAN (2016), marking the recognition given by China and all ASEAN countries to UnionPay’s business in Southeast Asian market. According to the latest data, as of 2016, UnionPay cards are accepted and issued in all the 10 ASEAN countries. 500,000 merchants and about 200,000 ATMs in Southeast Asia accept UnionPay cards, making UnionPay's overall coverage in the region exceed 70%. In Vietnam, Cambodia and Burma, UnionPay's coverage is above 90%.

“As the first stop of the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road, ASEAN is crucial to the implementation of the Belt and Road Strategy. With the continuous expansion of the China-ASEAN Free Trade Area, the personnel exchanges between China and Southeast Asia become closer.” said Cai Jianbo, CEO of UnionPay International. UnionPay International takes this trend as an opportunity for promoting the acceptance, issuance and innovative payments of UnionPay in Southeast Asia. In fact, UnionPay has become the mainstream bankcard brand in some countries. In addition, the UnionPay technology and standard have been adopted in many Southeast Asian countries, which better supports Chinese financial institutions, enterprises and people to “go out”.

In Southeast Asia, there are many Chinese immigrants and Chinese people working and studying, and these people have different card-using demand from tourists. Therefore, UnionPay International has gradually expanded its acceptance network from sightseeing and tourism merchants to supermarkets, gas stations, and cinemas. In Singapore and Thailand, for instance, UnionPay cards can be used to withdraw cash at almost all ATMs, and UnionPay's merchant coverage is over 80% and 90% respectively. "It is expected that within this year, the overall UnionPay acceptance coverage in Southeast Asia will rise to over 80% from the present 70%," Cai Jianbo said.

Based on its wide acceptance, UnionPay card are issued in many Southeast Asian countries where more and more local residents use UnionPay cards in their daily life and international travels. By the end of the last year, more than 15 million UnionPay cards have been issued in 10 ASEAN countries. The transaction volume of Singapore-issued UnionPay cards grew by about 6 times; more than half of the transactions with Malaysia-issued UnionPay cards happened locally; and Thailand-issued UnionPay cards are frequently used in over 60 countries and regions. In Laos, UnionPay has become the largest brand in terms of issuance.

In addition, UnionPay International has taken active part in the construction of bankcard system in Southeast Asia, driving Chinese financial technical standards to go global. Thailand's local switching system TPN (Thai Payment Network) based on UnionPay technical standard went live last year. UnionPay International and Thailand's largest commercial bank, Bangkok Bank have jointly issued UnionPay-TPN cards. UnionPay also won a bid and became the exclusive cross-border IC card standard provider for APN (Asian Payment Network). To date, UnionPay has signed the licensing agreement with 7 members of APN, meaning that the mainstream switching networks in Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia will adopt UnionPay IC card standard as the technical standard for card acceptance and issuance.

UnionPay International has been awarded the Top Ten Successful Chinese Enterprises in ASEAN in 2012. With the support from China Council for the Promotion of International Trade, ASEAN Secretariat, and embassies of 10 ASEAN countries in China, the events of Chinese Enterprises in ASEAN and ASEAN Enterprises in China have been held by China-ASEAN Business Council for 5 consecutive years.