UnionPay International announced today that it has cooperated with ABC Banking Corporation in issuing the first UnionPay diamond debit card in Mauritius. This is also the first UnionPay premium card in Africa. The issuance of this card further enriches the UnionPay card product portfolio in the region, offering the local residents more secure, convenient and preferential payment option.

With the increasingly frequent bilateral exchange between China and Africa in fields such as infrastructure construction, financial and economic cooperation, and tourism exchange, more and more African residents are visiting China and other parts of the world. In this context, UnionPay International is accelerating the process of card issuance in Africa so as to offer payment service to various groups of customers. In Mauritius, all the POS terminals and 90% of ATMs accept UnionPay cards. Moreover, UnionPay debit, credit and prepaid cards have been issued in the market.

ABC Banking Corporation is one of the major commercial banks in Mauritius. This time, UnionPay International and ABC Banking Corporation have agreed to issue UnionPay classic debit cards and diamond debit cards in the next three years. All these cards are international payment cards, and can be used in the UnionPay acceptance network across 160 countries and regions. UnionPay diamond cards also provide abundant value-added services, including access to VIP Lounges at over 800 airports around the world, pickup service in major destinations, international medical assistance and travel assistance, VIP healthcare assistance in mainland China, hotel referral and reservation assistance, global concert and performance assistance, train or rail information and ticketing assistance, and dining referral and reservation assistance.

Currently, UnionPay cards can be used conveniently in 48 African countries. In South Africa, UnionPay’s ATMs and merchant acceptance coverage is about 90%. In Kenya, 90% of POS terminals and over 85% of merchants accept UnionPay cards. Apart from Mauritius, multiple UnionPay card products have been issued in Kenya, Seychelles and the Democratic Republic of Congo.