China UnionPay

Quick Pass redirects here. For the toll transponder system in North Carolina, also called Quick Pass, see North Carolina Turnpike Authority.

China UnionPay
中国银联
Zhōngguó Yínlián

Type	Public
Industry	Banking, Finance
Founded	March 2002
Headquarters	Pudong, Shanghai, China
Members	296 (232 in China)
Number of employees	200-500
Website	www.unionpayintl.com

China UnionPay (Chinese: 中国银联; pinyin: Zhōngguó Yínlián), also known as UnionPay (Chinese: 银联; pinyin: Yínlián) or by its abbreviation, CUP, is the only domestic bank card organization in the People's Republic of China (PRC). Founded on March 26, 2002, China UnionPay is an association for China's banking card industry, operating under the approval of the People's Bank of China (PBOC, central bank of China). It is also the only interbank network in China excluding Hong Kong and Macau, linking the ATMs of all banks throughout mainland China and widely accepted by the ATMs in Hong Kong and Macau. It is also an EFTPOS (Electronic Funds Transfer at Point of Sale) network.

History

With the approval of the People's Bank of China, China UnionPay was launched on March 26, 2002 in Shanghai by PBOC governor Dai Xianglong, with the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, the Agricultural Bank of China, the Bank of China and the China Construction Bank serving as its first members. However, the concept of a unified Chinese bank card network dates back to 1993, with the formation of the "Golden Card Project" advocated by then-Chinese president Jiang Zemin. UnionPay is considered the descendant of the Golden Card Project, although attempts at unifying China's various credit card and interbank networks have been in place since the 1990s.

As of 2014 UnionPay has been reported to be contributing to capital flight from China, through poorly regulated store front operations in Macau.

QuickPass

Upon the introduction of EMV chips into China UnionPay cards, many banks also introduced QuickPass (Chinese: 闪付) a contactless payment feature similar to MasterCard's PayPass or Visa's payWave. However, unlike MasterCard or Visa's implementation, in the case of debit cards, QuickPass does not operate on a trust-based system, but rather as a stored-value card (similar to girogo/GeldKarte in Germany).

Payments by QuickPass-enabled debit cards can only be made using funds which have been "withdrawn" (圈存) from the account and stored on the card itself as electronic cash (essentially preauthorising the funds for use, eliminating the possibility that an offline transaction may exceed the account holder's balance) .

Use abroad

UnionPay cards can be used in 141 countries and regions around the world, making it the second-largest payment network by value of transactions processed, behind Visa." Some UnionPay credit cards are also affiliated with American Express, MasterCard or Visa, and they can be used abroad as an American Express, MasterCard or Visa. 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.

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. As of November 1, 2007, China UnionPay cards may be accepted where Discover Network Cards are accepted in the United States, Canada, Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean. However, Discover does not support China UnionPay for e-commerce or card-not-present transactions. As of early 2013 Discover now supports card-not-present transactions.

In March 2010 PayPal announced a partnership with China UnionPay enabling the use of PayPal with UnionPay member cards.

Members

UnionPay is the primary network of these Chinese banks:

• Agricultural Bank of China
• Bank of China (including its Hong Kong-based subsidiary Nanyang Commercial Bank)
• Bank of Communications (Credit cards co-issued with HSBC)
• Bank of Ningbo
• Bank of Shanghai
• Beijing Commercial Bank
• China Construction Bank
• China Everbright Bank
• China CITIC Bank
• China Merchants Bank
• China Minsheng Banking Corporation
• Guangdong Development Bank
• Huaxia Bank (Credit cards co-issued with Deutsche Bank)
• Industrial Bank (Credit cards co-issued with Hang Seng Bank)
• Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC)
• Postal Savings Bank of China (formerly known as the China Postal Savings and Remittance Bureau)
• Shanghai Pudong Development Bank
• Shenzhen Development Bank
• Shenzhen Ping An Bank
• Taizhou City Commercial Bank

Other UnionPay-affiliated organizations include municipal commercial banks as well as rural credit cooperatives. Overall, there are 165 financial institutions that issue UnionPay cards.

UnionPay had partnered with JETCO in Hong Kong and Macau until January 1, 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, 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 ten foreign banks have the right to issue UnionPay debit cards in China:

• Standard Chartered Bank
• Bank of East Asia
• Citibank
• HSBC
• Hang Seng Bank
• Woori Bank (as of May 2009)
• Development Bank of Singapore (as of July 2009)
• Hana Bank (as of November 2009)
• OCBC Wing Hang Bank (as of 2010)
• OCBC Bank (as of 2010)

Mitsui Sumitomo Bank offers a UnionPay credit card in Japan, and United Overseas Bank offers a UnionPay credit card in Singapore.

See also

• ATM usage fees
• Banking in China
• RuPay

External links

• China UnionPay
• Payment In China – Systems & Habits