UnionPay International Signs Chip Card Standard Licensing Agreement With Myanmar Payment Union

China’s financial technical standard landed once again in a market along the “Belt and Road”. On February 3, UnionPay International and Myanmar Payment Union (MPU), the national switch network in Myanmar, inked a chip card standard licensing agreement. MPU will adopt UnionPay chip card standard as its sole technical standard in card acceptance and card issuance. Previously, UnionPay chip card standard has become the industry standard of Thailand bankcard industry, and has been adopted by some member institutions of Asian Payment Network (APN).

Over the past few years, UnionPay International has actively participated in the construction of payments infrastructure in markets outside mainland China to accelerate the localization process of its business and enhance the competitiveness of China’s payments industry. The Lao national bankcard payment network and the Thai Payment Network (TPN), both established on the UnionPay standard, have gone live. In addition, UnionPay chip card standard has become the standard for all Thailand-issued debit cards, and has been adopted by seven member institutions of APN as cross-border chip card standard. The mainstream switch networks in Singapore, Thailand, South Korea, Malaysia, Indonesia, and the Philippines have been licensed to adopt UnionPay chip card standard last year.

Composed of all the commercial banks in Myanmar, MPU is the local bankcard organization. So far, all the single-brand MPU chip cards issued by institutions under MPU adopt the local standard, and can only be used in Myanmar. In 2016, UnionPay was chosen, after an extensive review and consultation with the industry, as the sole provider of chip card standard for Myanmar by the Central Bank of Myanmar, MPU and local mainstream banks.

This agreement signing is significant to all parties. Firstly, UnionPay International may realize large-scale card issuance in Myanmar through technical standard cooperation with the local payments industry, and can thus accelerate the localization of its business. Secondly, this cooperation meets Myanmar’s demand for upgrading its chip card standard to the international level, and lays a solid foundation for the launch of chip card-based innovative products such as contactless payment and mobile payment. Thirdly, UnionPay International continues to give full play to its technical advantages to promote the interconnection between the payments networks in markets along “One Belt and One Road”, and therefore raises the influence of China’s financial technical standards in the region.

According to Cai Jianbo, CEO of UnionPay International, Myanmar is a crucial market along “One Belt and One Road”, and UnionPay has made breakthroughs in the market. Firstly, all the local ATMs and over 90% of merchants accept UnionPay cards. Secondly, UnionPay International has issued UnionPay-MPU cobranded cards with many mainstream banks, enabling locally-issued bankcards to be used outside Myanmar. UnionPay has become the international card brand taking up the largest market share in Myanmar. Thirdly, UnionPay International participated in the construction of payments industry infrastructure in the market to support the development of the country’s bankcard industry. “In the future, we will continue to accelerate the development of UnionPay’s business in the ‘One Belt and One Road’ markets, to support the bilateral exchanges and cooperation between China and relevant markets.” He said.

U Zaw Win, Acting Chairman of MPU, said, the UnionPay chip card standard brings the Myanmar Payments industry to the world stage as it complies with international EMV standard and security. The tripartite collaboration on the chip standard lays a strong foundation for innovation, value-added services, and increase convenience for Myanmar consumers and businesses.

Than Than Swe, General Director of the Central Bank of Myanmar, said, as UnionPay chip card standard represents international standard and enhanced security, this cooperation is significant to the infrastructure construction of Myanmar payments industry, and is beneficial to the upgrading of the local bankcard industry, and further deepens the cooperation financial institutions in the two countries.

Now, all the ten ASEAN countries have accepted and issued UnionPay cards. More than 15 million UnionPay cards have been issued in the region. More and more residents in Singapore, the Philippines and Thailand prefer to use UnionPay cards in their daily life and global travels. The localization of UnionPay’s business in these markets is accelerating. UnionPay International was awarded as one of the “Top 10 Chinese Enterprises in ASEAN” in 2016.