Chinese financial services company
This article is about a Chinese financial services company. For the mobile application developed by China UnionPay, see
UnionPay (application)
.
UnionPay
(
Chinese
:
??
;
pinyin
:
Yinlian
), also known as
China UnionPay
(
Chinese
:
中???
;
pinyin
:
Zh?ngguo Yinlian
) or by its abbreviation,
CUP
or
UPI
internationally, is a Chinese
state-owned
financial services
corporation headquartered in
Shanghai
, China. It provides
bank card
services and a major
card scheme
in
mainland China
. Founded on 26 March 2002, China UnionPay is an association for China's banking card industry, operating under the approval of the
People's Bank of China
(PBOC, central bank of China).
[1]
It is also an
electronic funds transfer
at
point of sale
(
EFTPOS
) network, and the only
interbank network
in China that links all the
automatic teller machine
(ATMs) of all
banks
throughout the country. UnionPay cards can be used in 181 countries and regions around the world.
[2]
In 2015, the UnionPay overtook
Visa
and
Mastercard
in total value of payments made by customers and became the largest card payment processing organization (
debit
and
credit cards
combined) in the world surpassing the two.
However, only 0.5% of this payment volume was outside of China.
[
citation needed
]
UnionPay offers
mobile
and
online payments
services.
[4]
[5]
History
[
edit
]
With the approval of the
People's Bank of China
(PBOC), China UnionPay was launched on 26 March 2002, in Shanghai by PBOC governor
Dai Xianglong
, The
Industrial and Commercial Bank of China
, the
Agricultural Bank of China
, the
Bank of China
and the
China Construction Bank
served as its first members.
[6]
However, the concept of a unified Chinese bank card network dates back to 1993, with the formation of the "Golden Card Project" advocated by then-
Chinese leader
Jiang Zemin
. UnionPay is considered its descendant, although attempts at unifying China's various credit card and interbank networks have been in place since the 1990s.
[7]
In 2014, UnionPay was reported to have been contributing to
capital flight
from China through poorly regulated store front operations in
Macau
.
[8]
The same year, the total amount of cross-bank transactions of CUP card exceeded 41.1 trillion yuan.
[9]
As part of
Xi Jinping's anti-corruption campaign
, central government officials met with local officials in
Macau
and reached an agreement in December 2014 that allows the central economic crimes bureau to have real-time access to all transactions in Macau involving UnionPay cards.
[10]
: 207
Partnerships
[
edit
]
In 2005, UnionPay entered into agreements with other payment networks to increase acceptance around the world. Some major examples include:
Use outside of China : Europe
[
edit
]
UnionPay announced in 2016 that more than 2.2 million merchants in 39 European countries and regions accept UnionPay, taking up 50% of all the merchants supporting bankcard payment.
[12]
[13]
Merchants from all sectors can integrate UnionPay and accept payments from their clients online or in-store. UnionPay is accepted at major department stores, airlines, duty-free stores and fashion stores, hotels, restaurants, historical and cultural sites, and entertainment establishments, such as bookstores and gift stores of le Louvre museum, Versailles, Orsay, Picasso, and Strasbourg Citrus Orchard.
UnionPay is also accepted at business schools and Universities in order to allow Asian students to pay large sums of money for their tuition fees.
[14]
Merchants from certain sectors considered "High risk" or prohibited by the government cannot open a UnionPay account.
[
citation needed
]
Process for merchants accepting UnionPay in Europe
[
edit
]
Accepting UnionPay in Europe requires a third-party banking service.
[15]
UnionPay tries to significantly multiply its partnerships to expand UnionPay's acceptance scope in Europe.
A European merchant can open a UnionPay account and start accepting payments through
payment gateways
which is licensed in the country of the merchant. Licensed payment gateways in
Eurozone
countries are :
Use outside of China: rest of the world
[
edit
]
Some UnionPay credit cards are also affiliated with
American Express
(AmEx),
MasterCard
, or
Visa
, and they can be used abroad as American Express, MasterCard, or Visa credit cards. UnionPay debit cards, however, can only be used in the UnionPay network and other networks that have signed contracts with UnionPay. Since 2006, China UnionPay cards can be used in over 100 countries outside China.
[16]
In May 2005,
Discover Network
announced an alliance with China UnionPay Network. The two companies have signed a long-term agreement that allows acceptance of Discover Network brand cards at UnionPay ATMs and point-of-sale terminals in China and acceptance of China UnionPay cards on the
PULSE
network in the U.S.
[17]
As of 1 November 2007, China UnionPay cards may be accepted where Discover Network Cards are accepted in the
United States
,
Canada
,
Mexico
,
Central America
, and the
Caribbean
.
[18]
As of early 2013, the cross acceptance agreement was expanded to support
e-commerce
or
card-not-present transactions
.
[
citation needed
]
In March 2010,
PayPal
announced a partnership with China UnionPay enabling the use of PayPal with UnionPay member cards.
[19]
In 2015, China's
State Administration of Foreign Exchange
(SAFE) placed a ¥100,000 annual cap on overseas cash withdrawals from Chinese banks-issued UnionPay accounts.
[20]
In November 2017,
Azoya
teamed up with UnionPay to enable consumers in China to profit from the
Black Friday
online shopping festival via a cross-border marketing platform.
[21]
2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine
[
edit
]
On 6 March 2022,
Sberbank
,
Alfa Bank
and
Tinkoff Bank
reported several Russian banks would switch to UnionPay after
Visa
and
Mastercard
said they would suspend operations in Russia due to
Russia's invasion of Ukraine
.
[22]
The Russian banks intend to tie the UnionPay system with Russia's
Mir
network.
[23]
On 20 April 2022, UnionPay reportedly discontinued cooperation with major Russian banks including Sberbank. Russian media outlet
RBC
stated that they did so out of fear of secondary sanctions.
[24]
In August 2022, it was reported that Russian visitors to Finland were circumventing banking restrictions by withdrawing Euros from Finnish cash machines using UnionPay cards.
[25]
Members
[
edit
]
UnionPay is the primary network of these Chinese banks:
[
citation needed
]
Other UnionPay-affiliated organisations include municipal commercial banks as well as rural
credit cooperatives
.
Overall, there are 165 financial institutions that issue UnionPay cards.
[
citation needed
]
UnionPay had partnered with
JETCO
in
Hong Kong
and
Macau
until 1 January 2006. As of January 2013, Bank of East Asia and Citibank were the only banks allowed to independently issue UnionPay credit cards in Hong Kong and the mainland. HSBC and its subsidiary Hang Seng Bank independently issue UnionPay credit cards in Hong Kong,
[
when?
]
while they issue cards in the mainland in cooperation with local banks as noted above. Deutsche Bank only has co-issued cards, with no independently issued UnionPay credit cards.
The following eleven foreign banks have the right to issue UnionPay debit cards in China:
UnionPay in other countries:
See also
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
"Introduction - UnionPay International"
.
www.unionpayintl.com
. Retrieved
19 April
2018
.
- ^
"Introduction_UnionPay International"
.
www.unionpayintl.com
.
- ^
"UnionPay takes top spot from Visa in $22 trillion global cards market - RBR"
.
Finextra Research
. 22 July 2016.
- ^
"UnionPay offers secure and convenient payment service for Chinese students studying abroad"
.
www.unionpayintl.com
.
- ^
Dai Xianglong (26 March 2002).
"Remarks by Mr. Dai Xianglong, Governor of the PBC at the Opening Ceremony of China Unionpay"
.
People's Bank of China
. Retrieved
27 September
2009
.
- ^
"Strong Measures to be Taken to Achieve the Target of Connecting Bank-Card Networks This Year"
.
People's Bank of China
. 27 March 2002. Archived from
the original
on 6 June 2008
. Retrieved
27 September
2009
.
- ^
Pomfret, James (11 March 2014).
"Special Report: How China's official bank card is used to smuggle money"
.
www.reuters.com
.
Thomson Reuters
. Retrieved
11 March
2014
.
- ^
Yip, Amy.
"WILL CHINA UNIONPAY EXPAND FROM A DOMESTIC MONOPOLY TO A GLOBAL PLAYER?"
(PDF)
.
centennialcollege.hku.hk
. p. 5
. Retrieved
13 November
2018
.
- ^
Simpson, Tim (2023).
Betting on Macau: Casino Capitalism and China's Consumer Revolution
. Globalization and Community series. Minneapolis:
University of Minnesota Press
.
ISBN
978-1-5179-0031-1
.
- ^
https://investorrelations.discover.com/newsroom/press-releases/press-release-details/2005/China-Unionpay-And-Discover-Financial-Services-Launch-Partnership-Opening-DiscoverS-PULSE-Network-To-Chinese-Travelers/default.aspx
- ^
"2.2 Million Merchants in Europe Accept UnionPay"
.
www.unionpayintl.com
. Unionpay Intl
. Retrieved
26 September
2022
.
- ^
"The largest hotels group in Europe accepts UnionPay"
.
www.unionpayintl.com
. Unionpay Intl
. Retrieved
26 September
2022
.
- ^
"About 4,000 Educational Institutions Outside Mainland China Accept UnionPay Cards for Tuition Payment"
.
www.asiaone.com
. Asia One. 5 July 2018
. Retrieved
26 September
2022
.
- ^
"How to accept UnionPay in Europe?"
.
Silkpay
. Retrieved
26 September
2022
.
- ^
"China UnionPay extends coverage globally"
.
Xinhua news agency
. 2 February 2006. Archived from
the original
on 7 October 2007
. Retrieved
27 September
2009
.
- ^
"China UnionPay accepted in U.S. on Discover/Pulse networks"
.
People's Bank of China
. 6 December 2005. Archived from
the original
on 16 March 2007
. Retrieved
27 September
2009
.
- ^
"Big Database of Credit Offers: Cards Accepted in the United States"
. wistex. Archived from
the original
on 7 February 2009
. Retrieved
27 September
2009
.
- ^
"PayPal and China UnionPay Open the Global Marketplace to Chinese Consumers"
.
paypal.com
. 23 March 2010
. Retrieved
13 November
2018
.
- ^
"China's SAFE slaps 100,000 yuan annual cap on overseas UnionPay cash withdrawals"
.
South China Morning Post
. Retrieved
19 April
2018
.
- ^
Zaczkiewicz, Arthur (22 November 2017).
"Azoya Teams With UnionPay to Help International Retailers Leverage Black Friday Sales"
.
WWD
. Retrieved
23 November
2017
.
- ^
"Russian banks mull China UnionPay; big accounting firms exit"
.
ABC News
. 2022
. Retrieved
8 March
2022
.
- ^
"Russian banks rush to switch to Chinese card system"
.
Reuters
. 6 March 2022. Archived from the original on 7 March 2022
. Retrieved
6 March
2022
.
{{
cite news
}}
: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (
link
)
- ^
Wilde, Crystal.
"Why Chinese bankcard chips may not ease Putin's economic pain"
.
www.aljazeera.com
. Retrieved
21 April
2022
.
- ^
"Itarajan pankkiautomaatit tyhjenevat nyt ennatysvauhtia ? venalaisturistit loysivat keinon nostaa euroja Suomessa pakotteista huolimatta"
[Eastern Finland cash machines emptying at record speed - Russian tourists found a way to withdraw Euros despite sanctions] (in Finnish). Yle. 26 August 2022
. Retrieved
26 August
2022
.
- ^
Myat, Aye (24 January 2016).
"AGD Bank, MPU Launch First Co-branded UnionPay Debit Card in Myanmar"
.
mmbiztoday.com
. Archived from
the original
on 14 November 2018
. Retrieved
13 November
2018
.
- ^
"Askari Bank, Askari Bank proudly introduces Pakistan's first EMV & NFC enabled UnionPay Debit Card"
.
askaribank.com
. Retrieved
19 August
2020
.
- ^
"Load&Go China card - Australia Post"
.
auspost.com.au
. Retrieved
10 June
2019
.
- ^
"BAIDURI UNIONPAY DEBIT CARD"
.
baiduri.com
. Retrieved
13 November
2018
.
- ^
"Bangkok Bank UnionPay Credit Card"
.
bangkokbank.com
. Retrieved
13 November
2018
.
- ^
"BCEL UnionPay Cards"
.
bcel.com.la
. Retrieved
13 November
2018
.
- ^
"Sinarmas, UnionPay teaming up"
.
thejakartapost.com
. Retrieved
13 November
2018
.
- ^
"BDO Diamond UnionPay"
.
bdo.com
. Retrieved
13 November
2018
.
- ^
"????-云?付App???"
.
- ^
Standard, Manila (8 January 2021).
"Cebuana Lhuillier Rural Bank, UnionPay launch debit card for financially underserved"
.
Manila Standard
. Retrieved
11 September
2022
.
- ^
BMPlus (6 January 2021).
"Cebuana Lhuillier Rural Bank and UnionPay International launch first debit card for financially underserved - BusinessMirror"
.
BusinessMirror
. Retrieved
11 September
2022
.
- ^
"UnionPay CIM worldwide cards"
. Retrieved
27 October
2021
.
- ^
"DBS, UnionPay launch debit card to help visitors to China"
. The Straits Times. 17 May 2016
. Retrieved
22 August
2016
.
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
i
j
k
l
m
n
o
p
q
r
s
t
u
v
"UnionPay International Homepage-Global Union Pay Card"
.
unionpayintl.com/en
. Retrieved
13 November
2018
.
- ^
BrandRoom, INQUIRER net (12 October 2021).
"Innovative and secure payment solutions for a cashless Philippines"
.
INQUIRER.net
. Retrieved
11 September
2022
.
- ^
"Silkpay.eu"
.
Silkpay.eu
.
- ^
"1Link - PayPak"
.
1link.net.pk
. Archived from
the original
on 23 July 2019
. Retrieved
23 July
2019
.
- ^
"Tarjeta Union Pay"
.
www.credicorpbank.com
(in European Spanish)
. Retrieved
16 March
2022
.
- ^
"Yi An"
.
yianpay.es
. Retrieved
9 February
2023
.
External links
[
edit
]
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