In 2015, the UnionPay overtook Visa and Mastercard in total value of payments made by customers and became the largest card payment processing organization (debit and credit cards combined) in the world surpassing the two.[3] However, only 0.5% of this payment volume was outside of China.[citation needed]
In 2014, UnionPay was reported to have been contributing to capital flight from China through poorly regulated store front operations in Macau.[8] The same year, the total amount of cross-bank transactions of CUP card exceeded 41.1 trillion yuan.[9] As part of Xi Jinping's anti-corruption campaign, central government officials met with local officials in Macau and reached an agreement in December 2014 that allows the central economic crimes bureau to have real-time access to all transactions in Macau involving UnionPay cards.[10]: 207
UnionPay announced in 2016 that more than 2.2 million merchants in 39 European countries and regions accept UnionPay, taking up 50% of all the merchants supporting bankcard payment.[12][13]
Merchants from all sectors can integrate UnionPay and accept payments from their clients online or in-store. UnionPay is accepted at major department stores, airlines, duty-free stores and fashion stores, hotels, restaurants, historical and cultural sites, and entertainment establishments, such as bookstores and gift stores of le Louvre museum, Versailles, Orsay, Picasso, and Strasbourg Citrus Orchard.
UnionPay is also accepted at business schools and Universities in order to allow Asian students to pay large sums of money for their tuition fees.[14]
Merchants from certain sectors considered "High risk" or prohibited by the government cannot open a UnionPay account.[citation needed]
Process for merchants accepting UnionPay in Europe
Accepting UnionPay in Europe requires a third-party banking service.[15] UnionPay tries to significantly multiply its partnerships to expand UnionPay's acceptance scope in Europe.
A European merchant can open a UnionPay account and start accepting payments through payment gateways which is licensed in the country of the merchant. Licensed payment gateways in Eurozone countries are :
Some UnionPay credit cards are also affiliated with American Express (AmEx), MasterCard, or Visa, and they can be used abroad as American Express, MasterCard, or Visa credit cards. UnionPay debit cards, however, can only be used in the UnionPay network and other networks that have signed contracts with UnionPay. Since 2006, China UnionPay cards can be used in over 100 countries outside China.[16]
In May 2005, Discover Network announced an alliance with China UnionPay Network. The two companies have signed a long-term agreement that allows acceptance of Discover Network brand cards at UnionPay ATMs and point-of-sale terminals in China and acceptance of China UnionPay cards on the PULSE network in the U.S.[17] As of 1 November 2007, China UnionPay cards may be accepted where Discover Network Cards are accepted in the United States, Canada, Mexico, Central America, and the Caribbean.[18] As of early 2013, the cross acceptance agreement was expanded to support e-commerce or card-not-present transactions.[citation needed] In March 2010, PayPal announced a partnership with China UnionPay enabling the use of PayPal with UnionPay member cards.[19] In 2015, China's State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE) placed a ¥100,000 annual cap on overseas cash withdrawals from Chinese banks-issued UnionPay accounts.[20] In November 2017, Azoya teamed up with UnionPay to enable consumers in China to profit from the Black Friday online shopping festival via a cross-border marketing platform.[21]
On 20 April 2022, UnionPay reportedly discontinued cooperation with major Russian banks including Sberbank. Russian media outlet RBC stated that they did so out of fear of secondary sanctions.[24]
In August 2022, it was reported that Russian visitors to Finland were circumventing banking restrictions by withdrawing Euros from Finnish cash machines using UnionPay cards.[25]
Members
UnionPay is the primary network of these Chinese banks:[citation needed]
Other UnionPay-affiliated organisations include municipal commercial banks as well as rural credit cooperatives.
Overall, there are 165 financial institutions that issue UnionPay cards.[citation needed]
UnionPay had partnered with JETCO in Hong Kong and Macau until 1 January 2006. As of January 2013, Bank of East Asia and Citibank were the only banks allowed to independently issue UnionPay credit cards in Hong Kong and the mainland. HSBC and its subsidiary Hang Seng Bank independently issue UnionPay credit cards in Hong Kong,[when?] while they issue cards in the mainland in cooperation with local banks as noted above. Deutsche Bank only has co-issued cards, with no independently issued UnionPay credit cards.
The following eleven foreign banks have the right to issue UnionPay debit cards in China:
