UnionPay card acceptance to cover 80% of merchants in Portugal by year end
2015-05-15
Growing convenience for use of UnionPay cards has been witnessed in new nominated favorite destinations across the globe. Today, UnionPay International announced that it would come into cooperation with Portugal's largest credit card issuer and acquirer Unicre and the only local bank card transaction processing institution SIBS, bringing the UnionPay card merchant acceptance coverage to 80%. China UnionPay President Shi Wenchao attended the two signing ceremony and Chinese Ambassador to Portugal Huang Songpu were present with congratulations.
Portugal is becoming a new favorite tourist destination in the world. According to the Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Report recently issued by the World Economic Forum, Portugal has for the first time ranked among the top 10 competitive tourist designations in Europe and honored as the 10th safest tourist destinations in the world. Last year, the number of Chinese tourists visiting Portugal increased by 70% year on year. Early in 2008, UnionPay cards had been accepted in all ATMs and almost all merchants located in places frequently visited by tourists in Portugal.
Against the background of growing popularity of Portugal, UnionPay International is accelerating its cooperation with local mainstream institutions to substantially expand the UnionPay card merchant acceptance coverage within a short term. This time, UnionPay International will launch the UnionPay card acceptance in all the 50,000 merchants under Unicre via the SIBS network and successively in merchants under other acquirers on the SIBS network. By the end of 2015, the UnionPay card merchant acceptance coverage is expected to reach 80%. UnionPay cards will be accepted not only in department stores and airport duty-free shops but also in hotels, restaurants and other daily consumer places.
China UnionPay President Shi Wenchao said, in recent years, the European market has witnessed significant growth in the UnionPay card acceptance coverage, bringing more convenient payment service to tourists and business travelers. In the nature future, we will also launch UnionPay card acceptance in all merchants in Portugal and make breakthroughs in card issuance, online payment, contactless payment and other service fields. We will also continue to deep plough the European market and deepen cooperation with local mainstream institutions to enhance the card-using experience of UnionPay cardholders.
Both Unicre CEO Luis Flores and SIBS CEO Madalena ToméLuis Flores expressed their willingness to work with UnionPay International to jointly increase the UnionPay card merchant acceptance coverage in Portugal, and attract more cardholders from China and other regions of the world to make purchases in local merchants. They hoped to increase communication with UnionPay International and cooperate with UnionPay International in more service fields.
With the rapid expansion of the overseas UnionPay card acceptance network, UnionPay cards can be conveniently used in more and more hot emerging tourist destinations. During the May Day Holiday, significant increase in UnionPay card transaction volume has been witnessed in such tourist destinations in Hungary, Belgium and Luxembourg. Currently, UnionPay cards have become accepted in over 14 million merchants and nearly 1.2 million ATMs in 150 countries overseas, and almost all UnionPay IC cards can be accepted on UnionPay's global network.
Company News