October 10 – UnionPay International announces that UnionPay cards will be accepted by all ATMs under the Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) in Canada, bringing the coverage of ATMs accepting UnionPay cards to 85% and providing UnionPay cardholders with more convenient services for travelling, study, living and business.

RBC is a Canadian bank with the highest market value and the biggest assets and owns more than 4,600 ATMs which rank the first in number among other local banks. Most of these ATMs are distributed in ethnic Chinese residences and installed with Chinese interfaces.

In the meantime, UnionPay cards have been accepted by tens of thousands of well-known merchants in Canada, including airport duty-free shops, health products stores, brand chain stores, etc.. Cardholders can also pay tuitions online with UnionPay cards in University of Regina, Centennial College and many other local universities.

In recent years, the number of Chinese tourists visiting Canada has witnessed a growth of over 20% year on year, triggering an increase in demand for cross-border payment. To keep up with the trend, UnionPay International is constantly expanding its cooperation with local mainstream institutions and continually optimizing the local card acceptance environment and card-using service and will have UnionPay cards accepted by more merchants in Toronto, Vancouver, Montreal and other major cities in Canada in the coming three years to significantly increase the coverage of merchants accepting UnionPay cards.