Countries where the UnionPay payment system operates

UnionPay (), also known as China UnionPay () or by its abbreviation, CUP or UPI internationally, is a Chinese

state-owned State ownership, also called public ownership or government ownership, is the ownership of an industry, asset, property, or enterprise by the national government of a country or state, or a public body representing a community, as opposed to ...

financial services Financial services are service (economics), economic services tied to finance provided by financial institutions. Financial services encompass a broad range of tertiary sector of the economy, service sector activities, especially as concerns finan ...

corporation headquartered in

Shanghai Shanghai, Shanghainese: , Standard Chinese pronunciation: is a direct-administered municipality and the most populous urban area in China. The city is located on the Chinese shoreline on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the ...

, China. It provides

bank card A bank card is typically a plastic card issued by a bank to its clients that performs one or more of a number of services that relate to giving the client access to a bank account. Physically, a bank card will usually have the client's name, th ...

services and a major card scheme in

mainland China "Mainland China", also referred to as "the Chinese mainland", is a Geopolitics, geopolitical term defined as the territory under direct administration of the People's Republic of China (PRC) in the aftermath of the Chinese Civil War. In addit ...

. 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 The People's Bank of China (officially PBC and unofficially PBOC) is the central bank of the People's Republic of China. It is responsible for carrying out monetary policy as determined by the ''PRC People's Bank Law'' and the ''PRC Commercia ...

(PBOC, central bank of China). It is also an

electronic funds transfer Electronic funds transfer (EFT) is the transfer of money from one bank account to another, either within a single financial institution or across multiple institutions, via computer-based systems. The funds transfer process generally consists ...

point of sale The point of sale (POS) or point of purchase (POP) is the time and place at which a retail transaction is completed. At the point of sale, the merchant calculates the amount owed by the customer, indicates that amount, may prepare an invoice f ...

( EFTPOS) network, and the only

interbank network An interbank network, also known as an ATM consortium or ATM network, is a computer network that enables ATM cards issued by a financial institution that is a member of the network to be used to perform ATM transactions through ATMs that belo ...

in China that links all the

automatic teller machine An automated teller machine (ATM) is an electronic telecommunications device that enables customers of financial institutions to perform financial transactions, such as cash withdrawals, deposits, funds transfers, balance inquiries or account ...

(ATMs) of all

bank A bank is a financial institution that accepts Deposit account, deposits from the public and creates a demand deposit while simultaneously making loans. Lending activities can be directly performed by the bank or indirectly through capital m ...

s throughout the country. UnionPay cards can be used in 181 countries and regions around the world. 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 Debits and credits in double-entry bookkeeping are entries made in account ledgers to record changes in value resulting from business transactions. A debit entry in an account represents a transfer of value ''to'' that account, and a cred ...

and credit cards combined) in the world surpassing the two. However, only 0.5% of this payment volume was outside of China. UnionPay offers mobile and

online payment An e-commerce payment system (or an electronic payment system) facilitates the acceptance of electronic payment for offline transfer, also known as a subcomponent of electronic data interchange (EDI), e-commerce payment systems have become increa ...

s services.

History

With the approval of the

(PBOC), China UnionPay was launched on 26 March 2002, in Shanghai by PBOC governor Dai Xianglong, The

Industrial and Commercial Bank of China The Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC; zh, 中国工商银行) is a Chinese partially state-owned multinational banking and financial services corporation headquartered in Beijing, China. It is the largest of the " big four" banks ...

, the

Agricultural Bank of China The Agricultural Bank of China (ABC), also known as AgBank, is a Chinese partially state-owned multinational banking and financial services corporation headquartered in Beijing, China. It is one of the " big four" banks in China, and the second ...

, the

Bank of China The Bank of China (BOC; ; Portuguese language, Portuguese: ''Banco da China'') is a state-owned Chinese Multinational corporation, multinational banking and financial services corporation headquartered in Beijing, Beijing, China. It is one of ...

and the

China Construction Bank The China Construction Bank Corporation (CCB) is a Chinese partially state-owned Multinational corporation, multinational banking and financial services corporation headquartered in Beijing, Beijing, China. It is one of the "Big four banks, big ...

served as its first members. 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 Jiang Zemin (17 August 1926 – 30 November 2022) was a Chinese politician who served as General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party, general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) from 1989 to 2002, as Chairman of the Central Mil ...

. UnionPay is considered its descendant, although attempts at unifying China's various credit card and interbank networks have been in place since the 1990s. In 2014, UnionPay was reported to have been contributing to

capital flight Capital flight, in economics, is the rapid flow of assets or money out of a country, due to an event of economic consequence or as the result of a political event such as regime change or economic globalization. Such events could be erratic or ...

from China through poorly regulated store front operations in

Macau Macau or Macao is a special administrative regions of China, special administrative region of the People's Republic of China (PRC). With a population of about people and a land area of , it is the most List of countries and dependencies by p ...

. The same year, the total amount of cross-bank transactions of CUP card exceeded 41.1 trillion yuan. As part of Xi Jinping's anti-corruption campaign, central government officials met with local officials in

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.

Partnerships

In 2005, UnionPay entered into agreements with other payment networks to increase acceptance around the world. Some major examples include: * Discover in United States * RuPay in India * JCB in Japan * BC Card in South Korea *

Mir ''Mir'' (, ; ) was a space station operated in low Earth orbit from 1986 to 2001, first by the Soviet Union and later by the Russia, Russian Federation. ''Mir'' was the first modular space station and was assembled in orbit from 1986 to ...

in Russia *

Troy Troy (/; ; ) or Ilion (; ) was an ancient city located in present-day Hisarlik, Turkey. It is best known as the setting for the Greek mythology, Greek myth of the Trojan War. The archaeological site is open to the public as a tourist destina ...

in Turkey

Use outside of China: Europe

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. 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. Merchants from certain sectors considered "High risk" or prohibited by the government cannot open a UnionPay account.

= Process for merchants accepting UnionPay in Europe

= Accepting UnionPay in Europe requires a third-party banking service. 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 gateway A payment gateway is a merchant service provided by an e-commerce application service provider that authorizes credit card or direct payment processing for e-businesses, online retailers, bricks and clicks, or traditional brick and mortar. The ...

s which is licensed in the country of the merchant. Licensed payment gateways in

Eurozone The euro area, commonly called the eurozone (EZ), is a Monetary union, currency union of 20 Member state of the European Union, member states of the European Union (EU) that have adopted the euro (Euro sign, €) as their primary currency ...

countries are: * Adyen *

BNP Paribas BNP Paribas (; sometimes referred to as BNPP or BNP) is a French multinational universal bank and financial services holding company headquartered in Paris. It was founded in 2000 from the merger of two of France's foremost financial instituti ...

* Silkpay

Use outside of China: rest of the world

Some UnionPay credit cards are also affiliated with

American Express American Express Company or Amex is an American bank holding company and multinational financial services corporation that specializes in payment card industry, payment cards. It is headquartered at 200 Vesey Street, also known as American Expr ...

(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. 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 In medicine, the pulse refers to the rhythmic pulsations (expansion and contraction) of an artery in response to the cardiac cycle (heartbeat). The pulse may be felt ( palpated) in any place that allows an artery to be compressed near the surfac ...

network in the U.S. As of 1 November 2007, China UnionPay cards may be accepted where Discover Network Cards are accepted in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

Central America Central America is a subregion of North America. Its political boundaries are defined as bordering Mexico to the north, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean to the east, and the Pacific Ocean to the southwest. Central America is usually ...

, and the

Caribbean The Caribbean ( , ; ; ; ) is a region in the middle of the Americas centered around the Caribbean Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, mostly overlapping with the West Indies. Bordered by North America to the north, Central America ...

. As of early 2013, the cross acceptance agreement was expanded to support

e-commerce E-commerce (electronic commerce) refers to commercial activities including the electronic buying or selling products and services which are conducted on online platforms or over the Internet. E-commerce draws on technologies such as mobile co ...

or card-not-present transactions. In March 2010,

PayPal PayPal Holdings, Inc. is an American multinational financial technology company operating an online payments system in the majority of countries that support E-commerce payment system, online money transfers; it serves as an electronic alter ...

announced a partnership with China UnionPay enabling the use of PayPal with UnionPay member cards. 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. 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.

2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine

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. The Russian banks intend to tie the UnionPay system with Russia's

network. 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. 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.

Members

UnionPay is the primary network of these Chinese banks: *

(including its Hong Kong-based subsidiaries Nanyang Commercial Bank and BOC Hong Kong) *

Bank of Communications Bank of Communications (BOCOM or BankComm) is a Chinese multinational banking and financial services corporation. It was originally established in 1908 and was one of a handful of domestic Chinese banks that issued banknotes in modern history. ...

(Credit cards ) * Bank of Beijing * Bank of Ningbo * Bank of Shanghai * China CITIC Bank *

* China Everbright Bank * China Merchants Bank * China Minsheng Banking Corporation * Guangdong Development Bank * Huaxia Bank (Credit cards co-issued with

Deutsche Bank Deutsche Bank AG (, ) is a Germany, German multinational Investment banking, investment bank and financial services company headquartered in Frankfurt, Germany, and dual-listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange and the New York Stock Exchange. ...

) *

(ICBC) * Industrial Bank (Credit cards co-issued with

Hang Seng Bank Hang Seng Bank Limited () is a Hong Kong–based banking and financial services company with headquarters in Central, Hong Kong. It is one of Hong Kong's leading public companies in terms of market capitalisation and is part of the HSBC Grou ...

) * Ping An Bank * Postal Savings Bank of China (formerly known as the China Postal Savings and Remittance Bureau) * Shanghai Pudong Development Bank * Taizhou City Commercial Bank Other UnionPay-affiliated organisations include municipal commercial banks as well as rural credit cooperatives. Overall, there are 165 financial institutions that issue UnionPay cards. UnionPay had partnered with JETCO in

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

and

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, 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: * Bank of China (Hong Kong) *

Bank of East Asia The Bank of East Asia Limited, often abbreviated to BEA, is a Hong Kong public banking and financial services company headquartered in Central, Hong Kong, Central, Hong Kong. It is currently the largest independent local Hong Kong bank, and o ...

Citibank Citibank, N.A. ("N. A." stands for "National bank (United States), National Association"; stylized as citibank) is the primary U.S. banking subsidiary of Citigroup, a financial services multinational corporation, multinational corporation. Ci ...

DBS Bank DBS Bank Limited is a Singaporean multinational banking and financial services corporation headquartered at the Marina Bay Financial Centre in the Marina Bay district of Singapore. The bank was previously known as The Development Bank of Si ...

(as of July 2009) *

Hana Bank Hana Bank (), known from its initial establishment in 1971 to 1991 as Korea Investment Finance Corporation (), is one of South Korea's largest banks. It merged with Seoul Bank (est. 1959) in 2002, then with Korea Exchange Bank (est. 1967) in 201 ...

(as of November 2009) *

HSBC HSBC Holdings plc ( zh, t_hk=滙豐; initialism from its founding member The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation) is a British universal bank and financial services group headquartered in London, England, with historical and business li ...

OCBC Bank Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation Limited (), abbreviated as OCBC, is a Singapore, Singaporean multinational corporation, multinational Bank, banking and financial services corporation headquartered at the OCBC Centre. It operates through sub ...

(as of 2010) * OCBC Wing Hang Bank (as of 2010) *

Standard Chartered Bank Standard Chartered PLC is a British multinational bank with operations in wealth management, Wholesale banking, corporate and investment banking, and treasury services. Despite being headquartered in the United Kingdom, it does not conduct retai ...

* Woori Bank (as of May 2009) UnionPay in other countries: * AGD Bank offers a UnionPay debit card in Myanmar * Askari Bank offers a UnionPay debit card in Pakistan *

Australia Post Australia Post, formally the Australian Postal Corporation and also known as AusPost, is an Australian Government-State-owned enterprise, owned corporation that provides postal services throughout Australia. Australia Post's head office is loca ...

, previously distributed the "Load&Go China" card, issued by

(

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

) Limited; featuring imagery of the

Great Wall The Great Wall of China (, literally "ten thousand Li (unit), ''li'' long wall") is a series of fortifications in China. They were built across the historical northern borders of ancient Chinese states and Imperial China as protection agains ...

* Baiduri Bank offers a UnionPay debit card in Brunei * Bangkok Bank offers a UnionPay credit card in Thailand * Bank Central Asia offers a UnionPay credit card in Indonesia * Banque Pour Le Commerce Exterieur Lao (BCEL) offers both UnionPay debit and Credit card in Laos * Bank Sinarmas offers a UnionPay debit card in Indonesia * BDO Unibank offers a UnionPay credit card in the Philippines * Cebuana Lhuillier Micro Savings offers 24K UnionPay Debit Card in the Philippines. * CIM Bank, a Swiss Bank, offers UnionPay credit cards to domestic and foreign customers *

offers a UnionPay debit card in Singapore. * Halyk Bank offers both UnionPay credit and debit cards in Kazakhstan * Gazprombank offers both UnionPay credit & debit cards in Russia. * Joint Stock Commercial Bank for Foreign Trade of Vietnam (Vietcombank) offers both UnionPay credit and debit cards in Vietnam * Kasikornbank offers a UnionPay credit card in Thailand * Kazkommertsbank offers UnionPay credit cards in Kazakhstan * Krung Thai Bank offers a UnionPay debit card in Thailand * Lotte Card offers a UnionPay credit card in the Republic of Korea. * Mitsubishi UFJ NICOS offers a UnionPay credit card in Japan. * offers a UnionPay credit card in Azerbaijan. * SCT Networks offers a UnionPay Debit card in Nepal. * Himalayan Bank offers a UnionPay Prepaid cards in Nepal. * Nepal Investment Bank Limited offers a UnionPay cards in Nepal. * NIC ASIA Bank offers a UnionPay virtual cards in Nepal. * AmBank offers a UnionPay Credit card in Malaysia. *

Public Bank A public bank is a bank, a financial institution, in which a State (polity), state, municipality, or public actors are the owners. It is an enterprise under government control.

offers a UnionPay Debit card in Malaysia. *

Philippine National Bank The Philippine National Bank (PNB, ; ; Hokkien in the Philippines, Hokkien ) is a major Filipino bank based in Pasay in the Philippines. It was established by the Philippine government on July 22, 1916, during the Insular Government, America ...

(PNB) offers a UnionPay credit card in the Philippines. * Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation (RCBC) offers a UnionPay credit card in the Philippines. * Sacombank offers both UnionPay credit and debit cards in Vietnam * Mitsui Sumitomo Bank offers a UnionPay credit card in Japan. * Shinhan Bank offers a UnionPay credit card in the Republic of Korea. * Silkpay offers a UnionPay credit card in the European Union. * United Overseas Bank offers a UnionPay credit card in Singapore. * Diners Club offers 2 UnionPay credit cards in Singapore, the DCS Ultimate Platinum Card and the DCS Lite Card. * Russian Standard Bank offers both UnionPay credit & debit cards in Russia. * National Bank of Pakistan offers UnionPay debit cards in Pakistan. * 1LINK offers UnionPay debit cards through its member banks in Pakistan. * Credicorp Bank offers UnionPay prepaid cards in Panama. * Yianpay offers a UnionPay card in Spain * Banco Bolivariano offers UnionPay credit cards in Ecuador

References

External links

* * * {{Interbank networks Financial services companies established in 2002 2002 establishments in Shanghai Banking in China Cooperatives in China Credit card issuer associations Credit cards Debit card issuer associations Financial services companies of China Interbank networks Organizations established in 2002 Multinational companies headquartered in China Chinese brands Government-owned companies of China 2002 in Beijing