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UnionPay mobile contactless payment service Mobile QuickPass accepted by Moscow Metro
Promsvyazbank to issue UnionPay cards with contactless payment function in a large scale
2019-10-11


With the coming of the 70th anniversary of China-Russia relations, the bilateral cooperation in the payment industry continues to deepen. UnionPay International (UPI) announced today that UnionPay mobile contactless payment solution, Mobile QuickPass, is accepted by Moscow Metro through the collaboration between UPI and VTB. This new progress further expands the acceptance of UnionPay mobile services in the transit sector in Russia. Fan Yifei, Deputy Governor of the People's Bank of China (PBOC), Li Wei, Director of the Science and Technology Department at PBOC, and Zhang Zhengxin, Deputy Director of the International Department at PBOC, experienced the service on-site during their visit in Russia. Li Jingyuan, Minister Counsellor for Economic & Commercial Affairs of the People’s Republic of China in Russia, Shao Fujun, Chairman of China UnionPay (CUP), Cai Jianbo, Chairman of UPI, and Alexey Kirichek, VP of VTB attended the business launching ceremony. 

In Russia, the acceptance rate of UnionPay cards has reached 90%, and the figure will grow to 100% within this year. Based on this, UPI is accelerating the rollout of UnionPay Mobile QuickPass in accordance with the development features of Russia's payments industry. So far, QuickPass is already accepted at about all the POS terminals accepting contactless payment in Russia, with the transit sector to be a highlight. For example, Moscow Aeroexpress and Russian Railway have already accepted UnionPay Mobile QuickPass. With the cooperation between UPI and VTB, UnionPay cardholders can pay for metro fares by making tap&go payments with QuickPass-enabled mobile phones or UnionPay chip cards at 150 Moscow Metro stations. It is expected that the service will be available at all stations of Moscow Metro at early next year. In the future, UnionPay mobile payment services will be rolled out to buses, and urban and suburban rails in Moscow.

Li Wei said, the booming fintech facilitates payment innovation over the past few years. Chinese payment enterprises represented by UnionPay are applying mobile payment technologies successfully developed and promoted in China to the international markets, providing convenient and diversified payment services for trade and personnel exchanges between China and the rest of the world. I hoped UnionPay will continue to deepen its collaboration with institutions in Russia, to rollout UnionPay mobile payments in various daily consumption sectors. 

Shao Fujun, Chairman of UnionPay, said, with the implementation of the Belt and Road initiative, UnionPay is accelerating the rollout of mobile payment service in Russia. 

Taking the transit sector as a breakthrough point, UnionPay is enhancing its core competitiveness in mobile payments through cultivating customers’ payment habits and building a mobile payment ecosystem. Next, UnionPay will further rollout UnionPay mobile payment services, such as the UnionPay app, to offer local customers diverse payment products, and to drive the localization of its business in Russia.

Li Jingyuan said,China-Russia comprehensive strategic partnership of coordination is entering the best period of history. As a payment organization, UnionPay is playing an important role through continuously optimizing the acceptance rate, expanding the scale of local card issuance. It is hoped that UnionPay will maintain close cooperation with all parties in the Russian industry, promote the establishment of an interconnected payment network, provide convenient mobile payment services, and better support bilateral exchanges.

Meanwhile, an increasing number of Russia customers can enjoy safe and convenient UnionPay mobile payment services. So far, more than 2.5 million UnionPay cards have been issued by 16 local institutions in Russia. Among them, 6 banks have issued UnionPay card with contactless payment function. In 2018, UPI cooperated with the Russian Agricultural Bank and Gazprombank respectively to provide UnionPay Mobile QuickPass service to local UnionPay cardholders. Recently, UPI has also entered into cooperation with Russia's main state-owned bank, Promsvyazbank (PSB), to issue UnionPay cards with contactless payment function on a large scale in the next three years. 

Alexey Kirichek said, as a globally leading international bank card organization, UnionPay possesses abundant technological superiority and promotion experience in the field of mobile payments. VTB is glad to deepen its cooperation with UnionPay in transit sector. The partnership will provide easier and better payment experience for tourists as well as local UnionPay cardholders. 

In line with the digitalization of global payments industry, UPI is accelerating the rollout of its mobile payment services worldwide. Currently, customers can enjoy UnionPay mobile payment services, QRC or contactless payments, at over 3 million merchants in 48 countries and regions outside mainland China. In 12 countries and regions in Northeast Asia, Southeast Asia, South Asia and the Middle East, 21 e-wallets are developed or upgraded applying the UnionPay technology. As a result, more and more consumers outside Mainland China can enjoy the UnionPay mobile payment services. 

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