UnionPay accepted for the first time in Montenegro
UnionPay acceptance network expands to 171 countries and regions
2018-11-29

UnionPay International announced today that it has reached cooperation with Atlas Bank in Montenegro to enable the POS and ATM terminals of the Bank to accept UnionPay cards. This is the first time that UnionPay card is accepted in the country, bringing payment convenience to UnionPay cardholders visiting Montenegro. With this cooperation, UnionPay’s acceptance network has extended to 171 countries and regions. Liu Jin, the Chinese ambassador to Montenegro, and Goran Radonjić, Deputy Secretary General for Banks Association of the Republic of Montenegro, witnessed the cooperation between the two sides.

With the continuous deepening of the China-Central and Eastern Europe Cooperation Mechanism (“16+1 cooperation”) and the implementation of the “Belt and Road Initiative”, the ties between China and Montenegro become closer. According to data from the Montenegro Tourism Bureau, the number of Chinese tourists to Montenegro has more than doubled year-on-year in 2017, and Montenegro has become one of the most popular tourist destinations in the Balkans. In line with this trend, with the support of the Central Bank of Montenegro, UnionPay International actively carries out collaboration with mainstream institutions in Montenegro to improve the acceptance environment of UnionPay cards in the country.

The collaboration between UnionPay International and Atlas Bank will enable a large number of POS terminals in major cities in Montenegro such as Podgorica to accept UnionPay cards, covering tourist businesses such as hotels, restaurants, car rentals and travel agencies. UnionPay cardholders can also withdraw cash from the ATM terminals of Atlas Bank. Next, the two sides will jointly launch UnionPay Online Payment service in Montenegro and EU countries, and launch UnionPay e-wallet products to support the upgrade of the local payment industries.

To date, UnionPay is accepted at more than 3.3 million merchants in 40 countries and regions in Europe. Thirteen of the sixteen countries in Central and Eastern Europe accept UnionPay cards. Among them, 60% of POS terminals and half of the ATMs in Hungary accept UnionPay cards. UnionPay is also accepted at 60% of ATMs and tens of thousands of merchants in the Czech Republic. Since this June, Serbia has started accepting UnionPay cards for the first time.