-  Hundred E-Wallets outside the Chinese Mainland Now Support UnionPay

UnionPay International (UPI) announced today 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 e-wallets outside 
the Chinese mainland that support UnionPay cards reaches 100. Meanwhile, the 
number of merchants accepting UnionPay mobile payments has exceeded 10 million. 
The two milestones mark the forming of an interconnected UnionPay cross-border 
mobile payment ecosystem.

An Evolving Product Portfolio

The growth of the global mobile payment industry has accelerated in recent 
years, with the transaction scale up by nearly three times from 2017 to 2020. 
In line with the trend, UPI continues to apply the technology, specifications 
and market experience of Chinese mainland mobile payments to the international 
market. As the first international card scheme engaged in switching and 
clearing of mobile payments, UnionPay now offers a variety of wallet products 
such as the UnionPay App, mobile QuickPass and QR code e-wallets outside the 
Chinese mainland. Users can enjoy diverse payment experiences with a scan, tap 
or click. In particular, UnionPay launched the new mobile QuickPass this year, 
with some products integrating contactless, QR code and in-app payments. This 
means the payment demands in all use cases in and outside the Chinese mainland 
can be met with one mobile phone.

UnionPay standard e-wallets have been launched in more than 20 countries and 
regions, including Hong Kong, Macao, South Pacific, and Southeast Asia, and 
nearly ten new e-wallets were rolled out in the second quarter of this year 
alone. One out of every five transactions initiated by cards issued outside the 
Chinese mainland goes through mobile payment tools. For example, the Hong Kong 
and Macao versions of the UnionPay App provide access to almost all local 
card-issuing banks, driving 18 e-wallets in the region to support UnionPay QR 
codes, with over 1 million cards enrolled.

Localized Cooperation

Arab News Express, a prominent news website in the UAE, commented that the 
cooperation between UnionPay and local institutions has improved the mobile 
payment environment in the Middle East and protected consumer health. Khmer 
Times, a Cambodian media outlet, said that UPI's diversified cooperation with 
local banks in mobile payment has helped accelerate Cambodia's transition to a 
cashless society. The rapid localization of UPI's mobile payment business has 
benefitted from several factors: firstly, the four-party model under which UPI 
operates is in line with the regulatory requirements of each country and makes 
it easier to develop deep and win-win cooperation with local partners; 
secondly, UPI offers a wide range of solutions to meet the needs of users in 
different markets; thirdly, all types of products are compliant with EMV 
specifications and hence can be used in cross-border use cases, which adds to 
the appeal.

The e-wallet launched in Tajikistan reflects these features. Local POS 
terminals supporting UnionPay QuickPass account for over 80% of the total, and 
the International Bank of Tajikistan has also issued a large number of UnionPay 
cards within the country over the past three years. Taking into account the 
characteristics of the local acceptance network and the needs of cardholders, 
the UnionPay contactless e-wallet solution has less demanding requirements on 
mobile hardware and high Android compatibility. Users can simply link their 
UnionPay cards with their wallets to make tap-and-go payments at home and 
abroad seamlessly.

A Mobile Payment Ecosystem Taking Shape

In addition to a wide range of localized products, the increasingly 
sophisticated acceptance network and enhanced digital payment service 
capabilities have accelerated the formation of the UnionPay mobile payment 
ecosystem. Currently, UnionPay's physical acceptance network has been extended 
to 180 countries and regions, more than half of which support UnionPay's mobile 
payment services. UnionPay QR payments have been rolled out in 45 countries and 
regions, with over 1.5 million merchants outside the Chinese mainland accepting 
the payment product, three times the number of the same period last year. 
Additionally, 9 million POS terminals outside the Chinese mainland accept 
UnionPay QuickPass payments, doubling the number last year.

Tokenization is the core technology of UnionPay's digital payment services. By 
generating multiple stand-ins that replace the authentic bank card information, 
the technology not only ensures the security of enrollment and transactions of 
physical cards, but also enables the over-the-air issuance of virtual cards, 
which allows users outside the Chinese mainland without a physical card to 
enjoy mobile payment services. UPI has also developed more than 20 technical 
platforms, including the UPI Mobile Payment Service Platform (UMPS), to support 
partners around the globe in efficiently developing e-wallets and use cases.

SOURCE:  UnionPay International