The pace of "going out" of the payment industry is accelerating
According to the latest data released by UnionPay International, in 2022, more than 25 million UnionPay cards will be newly issued overseas, and the cumulative number of overseas UnionPay cards issued will exceed 200 million.
These cards can be easily used in the global UnionPay acceptance network, including 38 million overseas merchants.
In recent years, more and more tourists, business travelers and overseas students regard UnionPay cards as the preferred payment tool for cross-border consumption.
According to the report of RBR, a British consulting company, UnionPay has become the card organization with the most extensive offline acceptance in the world.
The acceptance rates of UnionPay cards in Asia Pacific, Europe and North America reached 95%, 80% and 80% respectively, and UnionPay cards are accepted in 50 countries in Africa.
Recently, Qatar basically fully supports UnionPay cards, the acceptance coverage in Indonesia has increased to 95%, and the card usage environment in Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and other places has been greatly optimized.
"Wherever Chinese people go, UnionPay cards are used" has become a real card-using experience.
According to statistics, UnionPay cards are currently accepted in 181 countries and regions, and UnionPay cards are issued in 78 countries and regions. The number of merchants accepting overseas and the scale of newly issued cards have increased by 4 times and 10 times respectively compared with the initial establishment of UnionPay International.
Relying on the continuous improvement of the acceptance network and increasing service capabilities, UnionPay International continues to promote the localization of business development. The scope of card issuance, growth rate, and market share have been continuously improved. UnionPay cards have become a new payment choice for consumers in some markets.
In the Asia-Pacific region, for every four new bank cards issued in the region, one is a UnionPay card.
The recently released "Nielsen Report" shows that in 2021, the transaction volume of UnionPay in the Asia-Pacific region will rank first among major international card associations.
A total of more than 150 million UnionPay cards have been issued in regions along the “Belt and Road”.
Currently, 22 million online merchants in more than 200 countries and regions accept UnionPay cards, and 16 million merchants in 98 countries and regions accept UnionPay mobile payment services.
Wang Pengbo, chief analyst of the financial industry at Broadcom Consulting, believes that the number of UnionPay cards issued overseas has exceeded 200 million, which is also closely related to the usage habits of users in the overseas payment market.
Judging from the acceptance environment of many overseas payment markets, the core of the payment scene is the bank card, and a series of complete processes and scenarios from issuance to use have been created around the bank card.
Therefore, it is very convenient to pay with bank cards in these areas, and consumers have become more accustomed to paying with bank cards over the years, which is also conducive to the promotion of UnionPay cards overseas.
In overseas markets, UnionPay is also accelerating its digital transformation.
In order to adapt to changes in consumer payment habits, UnionPay International continues to apply domestic mobile payment technologies, standards, and market experience to the international market.
UnionPay provides a variety of mobile payment products overseas such as "Cloud QuickPass", UnionPay Mobile QuickPass, and QR code wallets, and users can enjoy multiple payment experiences of "one-scan", "one-swipe" and "one-key".
Some products enable a mobile phone to solve all-scenario payment.
At the same time, more than 170 wallet products overseas support the binding of UnionPay cards, distributed in more than 30 countries and regions in Northeast Asia, Southeast Asia, South Asia, and the Middle East.
Among them, the Hong Kong and Macau version of "Union QuickPass" has been connected to almost all local card issuers since its launch 4 years ago, and the cumulative number of linked cards has exceeded 2.76 million, making it one of the most popular mobile payment products for Hong Kong and Macau residents.
The largest mobile payment product in Singapore, the largest mobile bank in Thailand, and the top wallet in Malaysia all support UnionPay cards.
Statistics show that for UnionPay cards issued overseas, one out of every four transactions is completed through binding mobile payment.
Wang Pengbo believes that mobile payment has developed rapidly in recent years, especially since the outbreak of the epidemic, the development of mobile payment has accelerated.
When changing the usage habits of domestic users, overseas users are also more inclined to use mobile payment, which is the general trend.
In this context, in the future, bank cards may gradually "retire behind the scenes" and provide more services such as accounts for consumers.
Therefore, in this context, more local wallets "hand in hand" with UnionPay cards follow the trend.
It is reported that UnionPay International has also recently cooperated with ZeroPay, a mobile payment service in South Korea, and LankaPay, a national payment network in Sri Lanka, to realize the interconnection between UnionPay and the local QR code network, and promote the rapid support of UnionPay products by more than one million overseas merchants.
Wang Pengbo believes that in the future, with the optimization of epidemic prevention and control policies and the increasing demand for business contacts and tourism, the issuance of UnionPay cards abroad is expected to continue to grow.
Chen Guojing