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UnionPay is accepted at the merchants of the largest bank in Belarus
2018-03-23


On March 22nd, CEO of UnionPay International Mr. Cai Jianbo met with Vice President of Belarusbank Ms. Kazhekina Sviatlana in Shanghai. During the meeting, the two announced that the Bank will enable all of its 52,000 POS terminals to accept UnionPay cards, expanding UnionPay’s acceptance network in Belarus to cover over 40% of the local merchant POS terminals. Moreover, over 20,000 of these POS terminals will be able to accept UnionPay QuickPass, UnionPay’s contactless payment solution. Mr. Matsel Valery, Consul General of Consulate General of Belarus in Shanghai, attended the meeting.

With more and more Chinese tourists visiting Belarus, the local merchants are offering UnionPay payment services to welcome them. It is reported by China Daily that “There are Chinese signs and broadcasts in Minsk's airport. You can use UnionPay and can find Chinese restaurants selling food, like noodles.” In answering to this trend, UnionPay International is expediting the expansion of its acceptance network in the country. To date, Gazprombank has enabled all its ATMs and merchants to accept UnionPay cards, while BPS-Sberbank is launching the UnionPay payment services.
Matsel Valery said, the year of 2018 is decided as the Belarus Travel Year in China, and both governments attach great importance to the bilateral relations between China and Belarus, and are looking forward to enhancing communication and collaboration in the financial sector. I hope UnionPay International will contribute to this process. Next, the Belarusian consulate plans to provide more convenient visa application service for UnionPay cardholders.

Cai Jianbo said, Belarus is an important country along the Belt and Road, and UnionPay International is willing to collaborate with various market players to jointly offer convenient payment services and multiple card-using privileges to Chinese tourists visiting Belarus. Meanwhile, we are enhancing our collaboration with the local institutions. First, we are expediting our acceptance scope so that cardholders are able to pay with UnionPay cards for various purposes. Second, we are promoting local issuance of UnionPay cards to offer consumers in Belarus safe and convenient payment services. Third, we are rolling out UnionPay mobile and online payment solutions including UnionPay mobile QuickPass, to support the upgrade of the payments industry in Belarus.

As agreed, by the end of next year, all the merchants of the Bank will be able to accept UnionPay cards, as well as UnionPay chip cards. These merchants include the major restaurants, hotels, shopping centers and supermarkets in cities like Minsk. Some of the POS terminals will accept UnionPay mobile QuickPass and UnionPay IC card QuickPass. Cardholders will be able to pay smoothly by tapping their QuickPass-enabled mobile phones at some supermarkets, convenience stores, snack bars and gas stations.

Over the past few years, the spending structure of Chinese tourists is upgrading while tourists to the Belt and Road countries in the Far Eastern Europe and Central Asia are increasing rapidly. The UnionPay acceptance network in these regions is improving too. Now, UnionPay is accepted at more than 85% of the ATMs and POS terminals in Russia, while 400,000 POS terminals in Russia support UnionPay mobile QuickPass. Cardholders are able to enjoy smooth payment experiences in Kazakhstan for UnionPay’s acceptance coverage reaches 95% there.
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