China UnionPay President Shi Wenchao (right) and PrivatBank Chairperson of the Management Board Petr Krumphanzl (left) attended the signing ceremony

UnionPay International today announced that it has signed an agreement with PrivatBank, the largest commercial bank in Ukraine, to realize the acceptance of UnionPay cards for the first time in the country. It is expected that 60% of POS terminals and about 40% of ATM terminals in Ukraine will be able to accept UnionPay cards in 2019. China UnionPay President Shi Wenchao and PrivatBank Chairperson of the Management Board Petr Krumphanzl attended the signing ceremony.

Ukraine is one of the first countries to support the “Belt and Road Initiative”. China has become Ukraine’s second largest trading partner. Since the implementation of the visa on arrival policy for Chinese citizens at the international airport in Kiev, more Chinese tourists and business visitors are traveling to Ukraine. In line with the needs of personnel and economic and trade exchanges between the two countries, UnionPay International actively collaborates with local major institutions to promote UnionPay payment services.

UnionPay International and PrivatBank will partner to enable all the terminals of the PrivatBank to accept UnionPay cards within the next year. UnionPay cardholders will be able to pay with UnionPay cards at merchants in major cities such as Kiev, Dnipro and Odessa, and these merchants will include hotels, shopping malls, supermarkets, and restaurants. They will also be able to withdraw cash with UnionPay cards from ATMs throughout the country. Next, the two parties will collaborate to issue UnionPay cards locally and jointly roll out UnionPay innovative payment products, offering more payment options in the market while supporting the upgrade of the local payment industry.

Shi Wenchao said, with the implementation of the “Belt and Road Initiative”, the demand for cross-border payment between China and Ukraine is growing. The cooperation between the two parties will achieve a significant breakthrough in the acceptance and issuance of UnionPay cards as well as the promotion of UnionPay innovative payment products in Ukraine, and thereby helps realize smooth payment between China and Ukraine. UnionPay has accumulated rich experience in innovative payment development, smart city construction, financial inclusion, and is willing to participate in the development of the payment industry in Ukraine in diverse ways, while providing UnionPay cardholders with more safe and smooth payment services.

Petr Krumphanzl said, UnionPay is an internationally influential bankcard brand. The cooperation between the two parties in introducing UnionPay into Ukraine will help PrivatBank to provide customers with quality financial products and services, and will also help local businesses attract more Chinese consumers. I expect the two sides will carry out deeper collaboration in the areas of card issuance and mobile payment to improve the level of electronic payment in Ukraine.

So far, UnionPay is accepted at more than 3 million merchants in 39 countries and regions in Europe, accounting for more than 60% of all the bankcard-accepting merchants in Europe. Most of the 16 countries in Central and Eastern Europe along the “Belt and Road” have accepted UnionPay cards. For instance, more than half of the POS terminals and about half of ATMs in Hungary accept UnionPay cards. UnionPay is also accepted at about half of the ATMs and more than 10,000 merchants in the Czech Republic.