90% of the ATMs and About 70% of the Merchants in Australia Accept UnionPay

At this time of year, students are beginning to apply for overseas for 2017. UnionPay International announced today that in Australia, one of the major overseas destinations for Chinese students, UnionPay cards are accepted at about 30,000 ATMs and over 600,000 POS terminals, covering 90% of the ATMs and about 70% of the local merchants, and more than half of these merchants accept UnionPay mobile QuickPass. Meanwhile, the local UnionPay payment service system for students study abroad is improving continuously.

Since 1 July 2016, the Australian Government Department of Immigration and Border Protection (AGDIBP) has adopted even more flexible policies on overseas students by implementing the SSVF (Simplified Student Visa Framework). According to the White Paper on China’s Young Students Studying Abroad, published by an agency for overseas study in China, Australia has become the No. 2 choice for the Chinese students to have undergraduate education due to its excellent higher education and flexible policy on foreign students.

With the Chinese students who start to study abroad are increasingly younger, UnionPay International is accelerating the improvement of the UnionPay acceptance environment in major destinations to meet the students’ and their families’ demand for safe and convenient payment services. In Australia, it is already quite convenient to pay for education: students and their parents may pay tuitions with UnionPay cards online on platforms like peerTransfer and Western Union or on the self-developed tuition payment platforms of Curtin University and the Language School of University of New South Wales. Students may also pay for tuitions, textbooks and accommodation with UnionPay card via offline POS terminals in over 200 schools there.

It is also convenient to use UnionPay card at ATMs and daily consumer merchants. The merchants accepting UnionPay include shopping malls, restaurants and scenic spots. About 280,000 POS terminals in Australia support UnionPay mobile QuickPass, which means that more than half of the physical stores accepting UnionPay accept UnionPay chip cards with the QuickPass signage and various QuickPass-enabled smartphones. These merchants include Myer department store, Captain Cook Cruise, Australia’s largest chain group Harvey Norman, MUJI, and Uniqlo. Since this year, the contactless payment volume of UnionPay in Australia has exceeded over 100 million Yuan.

Over the past few years, UnionPay International is accelerating the introduction of innovative products and services in Australia. Meanwhile, UnionPay International attaches great importance to payment safety. On the one hand, it is promoting the local merchants to accept UnionPay contactless payment and mobile QuickPass and is encouraging cardholders to use the safer UnionPay chip cards and mobile QuickPass. On the other, UnionPay International is strengthening the training of merchant staff, improving system inspection and compliance while cooperating with institutions and merchants, so as to build a safe and convenient payment environment together with institutions and merchants.