UnionPay has realised the global expansion of its network, brand and
products, and has promoted the globalisation of China's financial
technical standard too. UnionPay International now has presence in over 50 markets along the Belt and Road, the company has announced.
UnionPay International CEO Cai Jianbo said, "Our strategy is to suit our measures to the local conditions in different markets, supporting the personnel exchanges between China and other regions and facilitating the Going Global of China's financial standards."
In Kazakhstan, for example, over 1.3 million UnionPay cards have been issued. UnionPay's acceptance coverage at ATMs and point of sale (POS) terminals has increased from 50% and 20% respectively to 80% each in two years. Penetration is expected to grow to 95% this year.
In Pakistan, UnionPay is accepted at almost all the POS terminals and over 70% of ATMs. More than 3.4 million UnionPay cards have been issued, making UnionPay the international card brand with the second-largest market share there.
In 2016, the transaction volume in China with UnionPay cards issued in Pakistan and Nepal almost tripled, and that of UnionPay cards issued in Kyrgyzstan and Indonesia grew by about 50%.
UnionPay also participated in the construction of Laos' national bankcard payment network, and has jointly built the Thai Payment Network (TPN) with the major banks in Thailand. UnionPay also helped Thailand in creating its own debit card brand, TPN.
The UnionPay chip card standard is adopted as the recommended standard in Thailand and Myanmar, and is taken as the cross-border chip card standard of the Asian Payment Network (APN). This February, UnionPay International and the Philippines' switch network, BancNet, announced that they would promote the latter's member banks to issue UnionPay chip cards in a large scale.
