From expanding its acceptance at ATMs and merchants, to issuing cards with local banks, and then to launching technical standards in markets with mature conditions, UnionPay International has explored a practical way to expand its business along the Belt and Road.

Now, UnionPay has presence in more than 50 markets along the Belt and Road. UnionPay International CEO Cai Jianbo said, “Our strategy is to suit our measures to the local conditions in different markets”, to give full play to the advantages of UnionPay as a card scheme, and to support the personnel exchanges between China and other regions through card acceptance and issuance. Meanwhile, UnionPay International actively takes part in the financial infrastructure construction in the relevant markets to realize the adoption of China’s financial standard by the payment industry in other countries.

With the implementation of the Belt and Road Initiative, UnionPay has made substantial progress in the relevant markets, offering strong supports for the economic cooperation and personnel exchanges between China and these regions.

Kazakhstan, in the middle of Central Asia, can be taken as an epitome of UnionPay’s expansion along the Belt and Road. In as short as 2 years, UnionPay’s acceptance coverage at ATMs and POS terminals there have rapidly increased from 50% and 20% respectively to 80%. As anticipated, this coverage will further grow to 95% within this year. Meanwhile, over 1.3 million UnionPay cards have been issued in the country.

Similar in Pakistan, UnionPay cards are accepted at almost all the POS terminals and over 70% of ATMs. More than 3.4 million UnionPay cards have been issued there. UnionPay has become the international card brand with the second largest market share in Pakistan. In Russia, about 340,000 POS terminals and 41,000 ATMs accept UnionPay, and the acceptance coverage will grow to 80% by year end.

All these show that, the UnionPay card not only provides service for Chinese companies and people visiting the Belt and Road countries, but is also gaining popularity among the local residents. Data show that, in 2016, the transaction volume in China with UnionPay cards issued in Pakistan and Nepal almost tripled, and that of UnionPay cards issued in Russia, Kirghizia, Indonesia and Mauritius grew by about 50%.

In recently years, UnionPay has not only realized the “Going Global” of its network, brand and products, but has also promoted the “Going Global” of China’s  financial technical standard through participating in the construction of payment infraustructure in overseas markets and liscencing chip card standard. 

On the one hand, UnionPay took part in the construction of Laos’ national bankcard payment network, and has jointly built the Thai Payment Network (TPN) together with the major banks in Thailand. Based on TPN, UnionPay also helped Thailand in creating its own debit card brand, TPN.

On the other hand, UnionPay has promoted UnionPay chip card criteria to go abroad. UnionPay chip card standard has not only been adopted as the recommended standard in Thailand and Myanmar, but also also been taken as the cross-border chip card standard of Asian Payment Network (APN). Seven major switch networks in countries like Singapore, South Korea, Malaysia, Indonesia and Phillipines will adopt UnionPay chip card standard as the technical standard for card acceptance and issuance. In February  this year, UnionPay International and the Philippines’ switch network BancNet announced that they would promote the latter’s member banks to issue UnionPay chip cards in a large scale. This is the first card issuance project launched based on the APN chip standard licencing cooperation.

“After ten years of development, UnionPay has established a whole set of bankcard technology, standard, systems and rules, and these are exactly what some markets are eager for. We will seize the opportunity brought by the Belt and Road Initiative to carry out projects that can be duplicated and extended projects to assist the upgrade of payment industry in overseas markets.” Cai Jianbo said, “Next, we will continue promoting our payment infrastructure and technical standards, so as to realize the interconnection of financial infrastructure between China and the Belt and Road, and to enhance the international competitiveness of China’s payment industry.”

It is reported that some markets in Southeast Asia, South Asia and Africa are paying much attention to the overseas adoption of UnionPay’s technical standard, and are likely to carry out similar cooperation in the future.