UnionPay International expands partnership in Serbia

UnionPay International (UPI), a subsidiary of China UnionPay, announced on Monday a deepened partnership with Postal Savings Bank, the largest state-owned bank in Serbia, and OTP Bank, one of the largest financial institutions in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE).

The cooperation will allow a large number of Serbian ATMs and merchants to accept UnionPay cards.

Before this, UPI had already partnered with Postal Savings Bank to accept UnionPay cards at all of its ATMs. To facilitate post-pandemic travel and exchange between the two nations, both sides are taking the partnership one step further by enabling nearly 1,000 local merchants in sectors including retail, dining and hospitality to accept UnionPay cards.

In addition, UPI is collaborating with OTP Bank for acceptance of its banking cards on hundreds of Serbian ATMs.

The company said it will also cooperate with three major institution — UniCredit Bank Serbia, Komercijalna banka, and Raiffeisen Bank — to continue expanding UnionPay card acceptance in Serbia, which will enable over 10,000 Serbian merchants to take UnionPay cards within the year.

Currently, 15 out of 17 CEE countries and regions accept UnionPay cards. The relationship has grown closer with China's active assistance in preventing and controlling the COVID-19 outbreak in the region.

In the first half of this year, UPI enabled over 34,000 POS terminals in Croatia through its collaboration with Privredna banka Zagreb. UnionPay cards have been supported by over 10,000 POS terminals in Romania thanks to a partnership with Alpha Bank, the local acquirer which has already enabled UnionPay cards at all its ATMs.

Also, the company is strengthening its cooperation with Borica, a Bulgarian payment switch, to achieve full acceptance in the country next year.

At present, cardholders can use UnionPay cards at over 4 million merchant locations in 90 percent of countries and regions in Europe.