UAE banks can now acquire their UnionPay cards locally as a leading global provider of payment services has certified its card manufacturing and card personalization sites in the UAE. UnionPay International will now produce its cards locally and banks in the UAE will no longer need to import UnionPay cards from outside the region. Currently over 5 billion UnionPay cards have been issued globally.

UnionPay International has certified two major companies in the UAE to take care of card manufacturing and personalising starting with production of the plastic for the cards, to the printing of names and other required fields. The certified companies can now manufacture both UnionPay Magstrip and EMV® cards to serve local banks in the UAE as well as banks around the world.

This development comes with a number of benefits which includes supporting and boosting the country’s economy as the UAE can now export UnionPay cards around the world. Furthermore, UnionPay International will contribute to local banks economic profitability as they will no longer need to spend money on importing card plastic.

Han Wang, Deputy General Manager(In Charge) of UnionPay International Middle East said: “This is a great milestone and a giant leap in the UAE that UnionPay cards start producing locally. We are proud to partner with highly skilled and experienced local card manufacturers to better work with our issuers here in the UAE.”

With enabled card acceptance in over 150 countries and regions and with issuance in more than 40 countries and regions, UnionPay International provides high quality, cost effective and secure cross-border payment services to the world’s largest cardholder base.