China UnionPay rolls out QR payment solution

China UnionPay and more than 40 commercial banks recently announced the official launch of the UnionPay Cloud Quick Pass QR payment system, Beijing Youth Daily reported on Wednesday.

Users can log onto the apps of any participating bank and make payments via a QR code, similar to ways offered by popular third-party payment services Alipay and WeChat, which now cover more than 90 percent of the QR payment market, the paper said.

The latest UnionPay product offers multiple payment modes with customers able to scan seller QR codes or vice versa, while transfers can be made person-to-person, facilitating payments between individuals, individuals and businesses, and among businesses. In future, cash withdrawals from ATMs via QR codes and other premium service solutions will also be available.

According to the paper, the first batch of more than 40 banks joining the program includes Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC), Agricultural Bank of China (ABC), Bank of China, China Construction Bank (CCB), Bank of Communications and China Merchants Bank (CMB).

Another 60 are currently undergoing testing and will start the service soon, so it will be offered at all major banks by the end of the year.

A source from China UnionPay said compared to rivals, the UnionPay QR solution has a higher fund security level due to use of token technology as well as better services enabled by a complete risk compensation mechanism and usability at home and abroad. UnionPay International is also pushing for the launch of its QR payment system in Hong Kong, Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia, South Korea and Australia, the report said.

In just 15 years, UnionPay has become the largest bank card group in the world by value of transactions, taking a 37 per cent chunk of the $21.6tn global payments market in 2015, according to a report from London-based payments consultant RBR. Excluding its business in China, UnionPay claims just 0.5 per cent of the global market, compared with Visa’s 50 per cent and MasterCard’s 31 per cent.

As a membership organization with over 300 members worldwide, UnionPay International has enabled card acceptance in 160 countries (Turkey and Israel are the latest countries since last month) and issuing in more than 30 countries . The group’s payment terminals are now ubiquitous and more than 41m merchants, the company says, making it one of the most widely accepted payment providers.

UnionPay cards are accepted by almost all merchants in South Korea, Mongolia and Hong Kong, and by a significantly increasing number of merchants in Europe, Australia, Africa and Middle East. The overseas acceptance network is extending to markets not frequently visited by Chinese tourists.

Currently, UnionPay cards have become accepted by over 1.1 million ATMs globally.

Source: ECNS Wire