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UnionPay chip card standard licensing promotes large-scale card issuance in the Philippines
2017-02-27


President of China UnionPay Shi Wenchao (2nd left) and Vice Chairman and President of BancNet Ricardo R. Chua (2nd right), attended the signing ceremony.

UnionPay has made new progress in driving the rollout of products and services in overseas markets through exporting technical standards after reaching chip card standard licensing cooperation with Asian Payment Network (APN). UnionPay International announced today that it has signed a card issuance agreement with the Philippine switch network, BancNet. The two will jointly promote large-scale issuance of UnionPay EMV® chip cards by BancNet’s members. This is the first card issuance project in overseas markets after the chip card standard licensing cooperation. President of China UnionPay Shi Wenchao and Vice Chairman and President of BancNet Ricardo R. Chua, attended the signing ceremony.

APN comprises of 13 switch networks from 11 Asia-Pacific countries, and UnionPay is the sole supplier of its cross-border chip card standard. In October 2016, UnionPay had signed chip card standard licensing agreement with 7 APN member institutions, including BancNet. According to the agreement, mainstream switch networks in Thailand, Singapore, South Korea, Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines would adopt the  UnionPay chip card standard as the technical standard for acceptance and issuance. The UnionPay chip card standard complies with the EMV® standard, with UnionPay being one of the founding members of the EMV® standard. 

As the only ATM switch network in the Philippines, BancNet has more than 100 members in the Philippines. Previously, UnionPay International has enabled all the local ATMs to accept UnionPay cards through cooperating with BancNet. Since the signing of chip card standard licensing agreement, BancNet has completed the EMV® chip card migration of its acceptance network and is preparing for card issuance. Next, BancNet will promote large-scale issuance of UnionPay EMV® chip debit cards by its members. And all these cards can be used in the UnionPay network across 160 countries and regions.

This card issuance cooperation is of great significance: Firstly, as the only ATM switch network in the Philippines, BancNet is able to promote large-scale issuance of UnionPay cards by local banks in the Philippines, particularly with small and medium banks. Secondly, UnionPay EMV® chip cards will provide a new secure payment option for the Philippines market, helping to upgrade the local payment industry at the same time. Third, this cooperation will serve as a good model for other APN member institutions, helping them to speed up the implementation of their cooperation with UnionPay. Thus, more residents in these markets will know about and use UnionPay cards, and UnionPay will better support the payment needs for cross border transactions in the region.

Shi Wenchao expressed his gratitude to BancNet for its cooperation with UnionPay International, which follows shortly after the licensing cooperation with APN. He added that UnionPay has been actively involved in the upgrading of payments infrastructure of various markets in the region. Besides APN members, Thailand and Myanmar have also adopted UnionPay chip card standard as the recommended standard for the local bankcard industry. In addition, UnionPay International continues to localize its businesses in these markets, allowing more local cardholders to enjoy safe and convenient payment services, thus raising UnionPay brand awareness and the competitiveness of Chinese payment products globally.

Ricardo R. Chua said that this issuing agreement brings BancNet’s partnership with UnionPay to the next level. From only accepting UnionPay cards since 2005, our members will now also be issuing UnionPay ATM EMV® chip cards. We at BancNet are happy to enable our members to provide international access to their customers in a cost-efficient and secure manner through UnionPay.

In Southeast Asia, UnionPay also takes part in the construction of payment infrastructure besides chip card standard licensing. The Laos national bankcard payment system and the Thai Payment Network (TPN) based on the UnionPay standard have gone live. After the completion of TPN, UnionPay International and Bangkok Bank have issued over 1.2 million UnionPay-TPN cards in Thailand.




Note:EMV® is a registered trademark in the U.S. and other countries and an unregistered trademark elsewhere. The EMV Trademark is owned by EMVCo, LLC.

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