UnionPay International teams up with Huawei to drive mobile payment global

UnionPay International inked a global cooperation agreement with Huawei Technologies Co Ltd today in Shenzhen, aiming to jointly accelerate domestic mobile payment applications going abroad.

This marks the overseas debut of Huawei Pay, the country’s first mobile payment service based on security chip, since its domestic launch in 2016.

In the near future, customers outside China will be able to add their UnionPay cards to their Huawei Pay-enabled smartphones and then pay by tapping the phone at POS terminals that accepting UnionPay contactless payment.

Users of Huawei mobile phone in markets along the Belt and Road Initiative like Russia will enjoy a first taste of this service.

Huawei, the world’s third largest smartphone manufacturer, has accumulated a substantial number of users in Russia, the Middle East and Europe while UnionPay, an association for China's banking card industry, has expanded its footprint to 168 countries and regions.

Larry Wang, vice president of UnionPay International, a subsidiary of China UnionPay, laurels the cooperation “of great significance” as both parties can realize win-win on a global scale.

Alex Zhang, president of the software product line of Huawei, said the partnership will enable them to offer safer and easier mobile payment service to their users around the globe.