News

China UnionPay joins EMVCo

May 20, 2013

EMVCo, the EMV standards body owned by American Express, JCB, MasterCard and Visa, has announced the addition of China UnionPay to its membership. The change gives UnionPay an equal interest in maintaining EMVCo standards.

EMVCo works to maintain and advance EMV specifications in order to ensure secure and interoperable payments across the global payments industry. The standards body was established in 1999 by Europay, MasterCard and Visa to manage and promote the EMV specifications. MasterCard acquired Europay in 2002; JCB joined in 2004, followed by American Express in 2009.

"With the participation of UnionPay as EMVCo's latest member, we are once again broadening industry involvement in the standards body and leveraging the experience of yet another global payment stakeholder," said EMVCo Board of Managers Chair Junya Tanaka. "This level of industry engagement and resource commitment is important for us to effectively support the advancing needs of the payment landscape as implementation of EMV technology continues to gain traction globally."

"UnionPay's addition as an equity member of EMVCo further reinforces the growth of the EMV standard globally," said EMVCo Executive Committee Chair Joe Cunningham. "Its expertise at a technical, management and implementation level will support our ongoing goal to create a universally consistent and secure infrastructure that supports contact, contactless and mobile chip-based payments into the future."

EMVCo's management structure has been amended to accommodate UnionPay representation on the organization's executive committee and board of managers. UnionPay will also enjoy equal participation in EMVCo working groups.

EMVCo will host the 2013 EMV User Meeting June 26–27 June at the Novotel Centrum in Budapest, Hungary. The event brings together senior EMVCo representatives and global users of EMV technology to discuss recent technical advances and ongoing EMV standards activity. Details and registration information are available at the EMVCowebsite.  

Read more about EMV.