China Mobile Payment

UnionPay Expands its Mobile Payments App into Hong Kong and Macau

UnionPay announced that it has started to offer its mobile services to customers in Hong Kong and Macau, in a move that is said to meet increasing payment needs brought by the exchanges between Hong Kong/Macau and the Chinese mainland.

Today, consumers in Hong Kong and Macau can bind their locally issued UnionPay cards to the UnionPay app to use mobile payment service both in and outside the Greater Bay Area.

As the mobile payment portal is jointly developed, operated and maintained by UnionPay and various commercial banks, it allows its Greater Bay Area users to bind UnionPay cards issued by Bank of China (Hong Kong) and other 5 local institutions. The company expects the app to eventually support binding with a majority of local banks in the area within this year.

The move is also an attempt to meet demands for cross-border transport, cross-border utility payments, and other daily consumption scenarios. As such, UnionPay mobile complements its more traditional bank cards, which would help with retailer adoption. UnionPay will also be interoperable across mainland China, Hong Kong, and Macau to reduce difficulties in payments during travel between the two areas.

Cai Jianbo said, in answer to the advance of technologies and the change of customers’ payment habits:

“UnionPay is making a great effort in promoting technical and product innovation to migrate our business to mobile internet channels. UnionPay extends its experience in developing and promoting the UnionPay app from mainland China to Hong Kong and Macau.”

UnionPay is accepted at most ATM and POS terminals across Hong Kong and Macau, and has issued 19 million cards across the aforementioned areas. The company also offers mobile payments for debit card holders, via Apple Pay.

In addition to their usual operations, UnionPay has made a push into transportation in the region as well. For example, UnionPay contactless payment is accepted at the Guangzhou-Shenzhen Intercity Harmony Train, the city subway in Guangzhou and Dongguan, some taxis in Hong Kong and multiple ramps, most parking lots and all the bus lines in Macau.

UnionPay can also be used to buy cross-border ferry tickets between the Greater Bay Area and mainland China.

Featured Image via UnionPay