Chinese payment system UnionPay International, the world’s biggest payment system both in terms of cards issued and volume of operations, is entering the Ukrainian market, the National Bank of Ukraine said on Nov. 13.
The NBU’s Committee on Supervision and Regulation of Banking Activities on Nov. 12 has agreed on market entry conditions with UnionPay, the central bank said. According to the NBU, UnionPay International will provide services in Ukraine for issuing cash from ATMs and supporting payments for goods and services with UnionPay payment cards.
The Ukrainian financial news website FinClub reported on Nov. 13 that this is the third attempt by the Chinese payment system to enter the Ukrainian market. There were previous, failed attempts to allow Chinese tourists to use their payment cards in Ukraine using PrivatBank terminals.
The Chinese payment system UnionPay was established in 2002 in Shanghai. The company has held the number one spot in issuing cards since 2010, when it issued its five-billionth card. Five years later, the company became the leader in transaction volumes as well – according to the company, UnionPay’s transaction volume in 2017 was $15 billion.
The company now controls roughly 40 percent of the world’s payment card market, although most of their cards have been issued on mainland China. The company has, however, issued over 100 million cards outside China. Together with Visa and Mastercard, UnionPay accounts for 90 percent of all payment cards issued worldwide.
UnionPay will be the fourth international payment system to set up shop in Ukraine, after Visa, Mastercard, and American express. According to the NBU, there are 35 million active cards in Ukraine, with 24 million issued through the Mastercard payment system and 10.5 million issued by Visa. Half a million more cards have been issued by Prostir, a local payment system used by the state savings bank Oschadbank.
UnionPay cards are accepted in 170 countries. The company’s representatives say UnionPay won’t focus on working with a specific bank in Ukraine, but is open for cooperation with all Ukrainian financial institutions.
UnionPay will issue its first cards in Ukraine in around 5-6 months, the company says.
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