Chairman of China UnionPay Ge Huayong (2nd left) and President of Halyk Bank Umut Shayakhmetova (1st right) inked a cooperation agreement on the Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation

UnionPay International announced today that, Chairman of China UnionPay Ge Huayong and President of Halyk Bank Umut Shayakhmetova inked a cooperation agreement on the Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation. The two parties have agreed to launch UnionPay HCE mobile QuickPass in Kazakhstan within this year, bringing this secure and convenient mobile payment service to Central Asia for the first time. The local UnionPay cardholders will be able pay with mobile phones.

UnionPay HCE mobile QuickPass is expected to be the first mobile payment product launched by an international card brand in Kazakhstan. In Kazakhstan, 80% of ATMs and POS terminals accept UnionPay cards. And within this year, UnionPay will generally be comprehensively accepted in the market. Meanwhile, more than 1.3 million UnionPay cards have been issued in Kazakhstan, laying a solid foundation for the introduction of mobile QuickPass. Based on this, UnionPay International is rolling out its innovative products to better support the personnel exchanges between China and the Belt and Road countries.

Customers holding UnionPay cards issued by Halyk Bank will be the first to enjoy mobile QuickPass service. Cardholders may use NFC-enabled Android mobile phones to download the mobile application of Halyk Bank, and sync their UnionPay cards to their mobile phones after providing necessary personal information. Then, they are able to pay with mobile phones at the over 10 million POS terminals in mainland China, as well as in markets including Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan, Singapore, Canada, Australia and the UAE. The two parties have also agreed to enable the local merchants to accept mobile QuickPass by year end.

According to Ge Huayong, UnionPay has made substantial progress in card acceptance and issuance in markets along the Belt and Road, supporting the contacts between China and relevant markets. On this basis, UnionPay has also given full play to its advantages in technology, network and service to accelerate the rollout and application of its innovative products in these regions, offering cardholders more secure, convenient and flexible payment experiences. In the future, we will continue to seize the development opportunities brought by the Belt and Road Initiative to help connect China to the rest of the world.

Umut Shayakhmetova said, the UnionPay card is gaining popularity among more and more outbound tourists, businessmen, and exchange students in Kazakhstan. It also provides payment convenience for the personnel exchanges between Kazakhstan and China, Russia as well as other countries. We are glad to cooperate with UnionPay International in bringing mobile QuickPass to Kazakhstan. 

So far, UnionPay mobile QuickPass has been launched in Hong Kong, Macau and South Korea. In Macau, the HCE mobile QuickPass launched by UnionPay International and ICBC is the first mobile credit card product in Macau. In South Korea, UnionPay International collaborated with KT Group and its subsidiary BCcard to enable the local UnionPay cardholders to pay with mobile phones. In Hong Kong, cardholders are able to sync their UnionPay dual-currency credit cards issued by BOC Hong Kong with their mobile phones.