China UnionPay is wasting no time in launching its new QR code-based payment service to new markets, supplementing its current Near Field Communication-based mobile wallet.
UnionPay International says Southeast and Northeast Asia remain key targets for the QuickPass mobile payment product, which now supports UnionPay QR code payment, in-store payments with UnionPay chip cards and wearable devices, and in-app online payments
Currently, mobile QuickPass NFC payments are accepted at nearly a half million point-of-sale terminals outside of mainland China, and QuickPass QR code payments became available in Hong Kong and Singapore in the past month.
Hong Kong cardholders may add their UnionPay cards issued through Bank of China, Standard Chartered Bank and Bank of East Asia, to their mobile phones. When it is added to a UnionPay app, users can then choose the "overseas payment code" option to create the QR code for payments.
The technology makes UnionPay the only card brand that provides mobile payment service for the local debit cardholders.
"We are accelerating the rollout of various mobile QuickPass products and services outside mainland China so that we can bring faster, more convenient and secure payment options for our customers." Cai Jianbo, CEO of UnionPay International said in a press release. "We choose to launch UnionPay QR code payment first with daily spend merchants to meet the diverse tourist payment needs of Chinese tourists. I believe that in the near future, customers outside mainland China will also be able to enjoy this safer and easier QR code payment service."
In that regard, UnionPay says it will soon launch mobile QuickPass QR code payment in Thailand, Indonesia and Australia. In Southeast Asia, UnionPay International is also collaborating with several countries to launch e-wallet products this year.
In Thailand, UnionPay says it is collaborating with Visa and Mastercard to develop a common standard for QR code payment that will be recommended by Bank of Thailand to local financial institutions and merchants.
UnionPay says it also is offering the mobile payment service to more global customers, as mobile QuickPass is available in Macau and South Korea.
UnionPay says its latest data indicates cross-border transaction volume of mobile QuickPass doubled in the first half of this year.
Over the past few years, UnionPay International has developed international products such as a cross-border B2B payment and marketing platforms and digital wallets, backed with tokenization services, a trusted service management program and a Host Card Emulation platform.
Two years ago, UnionPay partnered with more than 20 commercial
