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Vientiane Times:UnionPay accounts for 80 percent of market share in Laos
2022-08-05


When you pick up your debit card, more often than not you will see the name UnionPay - a global payment brand that serves the world’s largest cardholder base.

As Laos transitions to a cashless society, many people are using UnionPay for their financial transactions, making it very convenient to buy things both in Laos and other countries.

In Laos, UnionPay is the number one international payment brand with an over 80 percent market share.

“Laos is important to UnionPay and is one of our biggest markets in South East Asia. UnionPay is committed to providing access to value, secure and innovative payment solutions that are tailored to the needs of the Lao market, to enable choice and ease of payment for Lao consumers and businesses alike,” said a source from UnionPay.

One product that may be suitable for traders at markets is UnionPay QR (Quick Response) code, which is fast and cost efficient to deploy. Traders only need to have a smartphone to accept UnionPay QR code payments, bypassing the need to install costly point-of-sale terminals.

“UnionPay is accepted at 180 markets globally, including in many of the top destinations that Lao people travel to, like China, Thailand, Vietnam and more.”

“The opening of borders will be a boon for our business, as our customers will find that their UnionPay cards are readily accepted in these markets, enabling them to make secure and convenient cross border cashless payments at over 64 million merchants globally, meaning they no longer have to carry clunky foreign currencies,” stated UnionPay. 

UnionPay is launching the “My UnionPay, My Choice” campaign for UnionPay Cardholders to take videos and/or photos of the card with captions and post them on Facebook, TikTok or Instagram, with the hashtag “#MyUnionPay”. Everyone age above 18 are invited to join this campaign, with the winners to receive prizes worth 3.5 million kip.

UnionPay serves the world’s largest cardholder base by offering a very wide range of B2C and B2B payment solutions in Laos and globally to meet the varied payment needs of customers.

“More importantly, we take a win-win collaboration and medium-to-long term approach to partnerships. A case in point is how we partnered with the Bank of the Lao PDR and the China Development Bank to jointly build Laos’ national bankcard payment system in 2015, when UnionPay provided support for the construction of facilities and the operation and maintenance of the payment system.”

 “In 2019, as a commitment to continually upgrade Laos’ payment infrastructure, we signed an agreement with the Bank of the Lao PDR and seven leading commercial banks in Laos to set up JV LAPNet, to ensure stable operation of the Lao national bankcard payment system.”

“Earlier this year, Indochina Bank launched the UnionPay debit card with 3D Secure or 3DS technology, making online shopping secure and more seamless for Lao customers. UnionPay is the first international payment network to launch 3DS in Laos.” 

With this global acceptance, UnionPay is committed to providing access to value and secure payment solutions that are tailored to the needs of Lao people, to enable choice and ease of payment for Lao consumers and businesses alike.

Media Reports