One hundred e-wallets outside Mainland China now support UnionPay
UnionPay International (UPI) announced that it has partnered with the International Bank of Tajikistan to launch the country’s first contactless e-wallet, making UnionPay the first payment brand to offer mobile contactless payment services in the country. As a result, the number of eWallets outside Mainland China that support UnionPay cards reaches one hundred. However, the number of merchants accepting UnionPay mobile payments exceeds ten million. The two achievements mark the formation of UnionPay’s interconnected cross-border mobile payments ecosystem.
An evolving product portfolio
The growth of the global mobile payments industry has accelerated in recent years, with transactions increasing nearly threefold from 2017 to 2020. In line with this trend, UPI continues to apply technology, specifications and market experience to mobile payments in China Continental to the international market. As the first international card scheme dedicated to exchanging and clearing mobile payments, UnionPay now offers, outside of Mainland China, a variety of wallet products such as the UnionPay app, Mobile QuickPass and e-wallets with QR code. Users can enjoy a variety of payment experiences through digital read, touch or click. In particular, UnionPay launched the new mobile QuickPass this year, with some products that integrate contactless, QR code and in-app payments.
UnionPay’s standard eWallets were launched in more than 20 countries and regions, including Hong Kong , Macau , South Pacific and Southeast Asia, and nearly ten new eWallets were rolled out in the second quarter of this year. One in five transactions initiated by cards issued outside Mainland China go through mobile payment tools. For example, the Hong Kong and Macau versions of the UnionPay app provide access to nearly all local card-issuing banks, boosting 18 eWallets in the region to support UnionPay QR codes, with over a million cards enrolled.
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Localized cooperation
The Arab News Express , a leading news site in the UAE, said that cooperation between UnionPay and local institutions has improved the environment of mobile payments in the Middle East and protect the health of consumers. Khmer Times, a Cambodian media outlet, said UPI’s diversified cooperation with local banks on mobile payments helped accelerate Cambodia’s transition to a cashless society. The rapid localization of UPI’s mobile payments business has benefited from several factors: First, the four-part model under which UPI operates is in line with each country’s regulatory requirements and facilitates the development of deep cooperation in that everyone wins with local partners; secondly, UPI offers a wide range of solutions to meet the needs of users in different markets; and thirdly, all kinds of products comply with EMV specifications (EuroPay, Mastercard, Visa) and therefore can be used in cross-border use cases,
The eWallet launched in Tajikistan reflects these capabilities. Terminals at local points of sale that support UnionPay QuickPass accounts represent more than 80% of the total, and the International Bank of Tajikistan has also issued a large number of UnionPay cards in the country over the past three years. Taking into account local acceptance network characteristics and cardholder needs, UnionPay’s contactless wallet solution has fewer mobile hardware requirements and high Android compatibility. Users can simply link their UnionPay cards to their wallets to seamlessly make payments at home and abroad.
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A mobile payments ecosystem taking shape
In addition to a wide range of localized products, the increasingly sophisticated acceptance network and enhanced digital payment services capabilities have accelerated the formation of UnionPay’s mobile payments ecosystem. Currently, UnionPay’s physical acceptance network has been extended to 180 countries and regions, with more than half supporting UnionPay’s mobile payment services. UnionPay QR payments have been implemented in 45 countries and regions, with payment product acceptance by more than 1.5 million merchants outside Mainland China, three times the number for the same period last year. In addition, nine million POS terminals outside Mainland China accept UnionPay QuickPass payments, double last year’s number.
Tokenization is the core technology of UnionPay’s digital payment services. By generating various stand-in information that replaces true bank card information, the technology not only ensures the security of physical card registration and transactions, but also allows for the over-the-air issuance of virtual cards, which allows users outside Mainland China who do not have a physical card use mobile payment services. UPI has also developed more than 20 technical platforms, including the UPI Mobile Payment Service Platform (UMPS) mobile payment services platform, to help partners around the world efficiently develop electronic wallets and use cases.
