Chinese and Portuguese state leaders witness UnionPay Card collaboration agreement between UnionPay International and Millennium bcp
UnionPay cards are issued in 50 countries and regions2018-12-06
On December 5, local time, under the witness of Chinese President Xi Jinping and Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Costa, UnionPay International signed a card-issuing agreement with Portugal’s largest private bank, Millennium bcp, in Lisbon. Portugal will become the 50th market to issue UnionPay cards. This is also the first time that a European local institution to issued UnionPay cards after the issuance of UnionPay cards by Chinese banks in eight European countries.
The European Union has become China’s largest trading partner, and Europe is the second largest destination for Chinese outbound tourists. In this context, UnionPay International has accelerated its card acceptance cooperation with major financial institutions in Europe to provide convenient payment services for Chinese customers visiting Europe. To date, UnionPay cards are accepted at more than 3.3 million merchants in 40 European countries and regions, and these merchants account for over 60% of the merchants which accept bankcards in Europe. In Portugal, for example, all local ATMs accept UnionPay cards for cash withdrawal. About 80% of POS terminals will be able to accept UnionPay cards by the end of this year and 100% acceptance of thee next year. And Millennium bcp has enabled all of its ATM and POS terminals to accept UnionPay.
Millennium bcp will issue UnionPay consumer and commercial cards in Portugal, including debit cards, credit cards, prepaid cards. These cards can be used in the UnionPay network both locally and across the world. These cards also support the UnionPay contactless payment function, QuickPass, which enables cardholders to tap and pay at more than 12 million POS terminals worldwide.
So far, more than 100 million UnionPay cards have been issued in 48 countries and regions outside Mainland China. UnionPay card has become the main payment tool for cardholders’ daily consumption and cross-border travel in many countries and regions. A total of more than 35 million UnionPay cards have been issued in more than 30 countries and regions along One Belt and One Road, including 10 countries in Southeast Asia and 6 countries in Central Asia. In Laos, Mongolia and Myanmar, UnionPay is the top bankcard brand in terms of card issuance. In Europe, UnionPay International has jointly issued cards with Chinese banks in 8 countries including the UK, France, Germany, Spain and Hungary.
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