News

UnionPay cards issued outside mainland China top 90M

February 14, 2018

Twenty million UnionPay cards were issued outside the Chinese mainland in 2017, increasing the total of such cards to approximately 90 million, according to a press release. The transaction volume for these cards grew approximately 40 percent year over year.

UnionPay is increasing its card-issuing scale and services outside mainland China to support the exchanges between China and the rest of the world; China is now the world's fourth largest inbound tourism market, with approximately 140 million visitors in 2017, the release said.

UnionPay cards have become a major payment method for some tourists visiting China. Further, transaction volume of UnionPay cards issued outside mainland China has now surpassed that of cards issued within the mainland and used outside of it.

For example, more than 90 percent of transactions on UnionPay cards issued in Hong Kong, Macau, Pakistan, Southeast Asia and Central Asia are local, making UnionPay a major payment method for cardholders in these markets, the release said.