UnionPay International announced today to have signed an agreement with Post Bank Uganda, one of the leading banks in Uganda in terms of customer reach, agreeing to jointly issue 400,000 UnionPay cards in the next three years. This is the first time that the UnionPay card is issued in the country. Now, UnionPay’s acceptance coverage in Uganda is over 80%, making it easy to pay with UnionPay cards issued locally and globally. Mr. Cai Jianbo, CEO of UnionPay International and Mr. Stephen N. Mukweli, CEO of Post Bank Uganda jointly attended the signing ceremony in Shanghai.

With the implementation of the Belt and Road Initiative and the construction of China-Africa Economic Corridor, the communication and cooperation between China and Africa becomes closer. In answer to this, UnionPay International continues to improve its acceptance environment in Africa and is carrying out card issuing collaboration with the local institutions in markets where the time is ripe. To date, multiple UnionPay card products are issued in Mauritius, Kenya, Seychelles and Congo. According to this agreement signed today, Post Bank Uganda will issue UnionPay debit cards on a large scale. These cards are EMV® chip cards and can be used in UnionPay’s global acceptance network with contactless payment function.

“In support of the Belt and Road Initiative, UnionPay is willing to share with partners our experience in network building, product and service designing, and technology developing over the past ten or so years, to participate in the development of the payments industry in Africa.” Mr. Cai said, it is significant to issue EMV®-compliant UnionPay chip cards together with Post Bank Uganda, for it expedites the localization of UnionPay’s business in the market and also helps the local major financial institutions to upgrade their products, bringing better services to the local UnionPay cardholders. Based on this collaboration, the two sides will explore future cooperation in rolling out UnionPay’s innovative products, including UnionPay QR Code payment and B2B online payment.

Mr. Mukweli said, UnionPay International has offered payment solutions with a good price, which facilitates Post Bank Uganda to issue bankcards of an international brand for the first time. This is a great breakthrough. This cooperation not only provides customers in Uganda financial service locally, but also meets their cross-border payment demands. Now, 60% of the population in Uganda are the young, we hope to carry out closer cooperation with UnionPay International in the field of digital payment in the future.

Now, UnionPay is present in 50 countries and regions in Africa, with an overall acceptance coverage of over 70% in the continent. UnionPay has realized about 100% acceptance in South Africa, Kenya, Mauritius, Seychelles and Morocco. In Egypt, UnionPay is accepted at almost all ATMs and half of the POS terminals.

With the fast popularization of smartphones and mobile communications technologies in Africa, UnionPay International is expediting the rollout of its mobile payment services in the continent. Now, UnionPay QR code payment is accepted in Kenya, Djibouti and Mauritius. “UnionPay” mobile app users are able to pay by scanning QR code at the hotels, F&B merchants and retailers in these markets. UnionPay International is also collaborating with major institutions in Kenya to develop the global version of the “UnionPay” app or other e-wallet products, offering safe and smooth mobile payment service to UnionPay cardholders in Africa.

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.