UnionPay is rapidly increasing its payment acceptance network in Europe

 

UnionPay International recently announced a strategic cooperation agreement with K&H Payment Services (hereinafter referred to as "K&H Group"), Hungary's leading acquirer. This collaboration has increased UnionPay card acceptance coverage in this country. The collaboration improves tourists’ payment experience, especially during the peak tourist season. UnionPay International actively expands its global network and promotes emerging payment methods to meet changing needs.

Cooperation between UnionPay International and K&H Group

Improving the payment experience in Hungary

This cooperation will bring significant improvements to Hungary's payment experience. The main content of the cooperation includes the cooperation between UnionPay International and K&H Group to open all 12,000 merchants of K&H Group so that these merchants can support UnionPay card payment. Through this cooperation, Hungary’s UnionPay card acceptance coverage has been increased to more than 70%, which will make it more convenient for visiting cardholders to use UnionPay cards for payment. 

Serving tourism market needs

Hungary is a popular tourist destination, especially as the National Day Golden Week approaches, air tickets and hotel orders to Hungary continue to increase. The cooperation between UnionPay International and K&H Group aims to cater to the growing demand of the tourism market. All merchant POS terminals of K&H Group have been opened at one time, covering various scenarios such as hotels, restaurants, shopping and retail, etc., and have especially enhanced their popularity in popular cities in Hungary. , network service capabilities in places such as Budapest. Today, tourists can use UnionPay cards to pay or withdraw cash at more than 70% of merchant POS terminals and nearly half of ATM terminals in Hungary.

A 70% increase in UnionPay acceptance coverage in Hungary

One of the important effects of the cooperation agreement is to increase the UnionPay card acceptance coverage in Hungary to more than 70%, which will have a positive impact on tourists’ payment experience in Hungary. 

How does this improve tourists’ payment experience?

Hungary has always been a well-known tourist destination in the world. Especially during China’s National Day Golden Week holiday, air tickets and hotel bookings to Hungary increased rapidly. During the cooperation, UnionPay International and K&H Group focused on improving cardholders’ payment convenience. 

Once the K&H Group’s merchant POS terminals are activated, they would be available in various scenarios, such as hotels, restaurants and shopping malls in different cities like Budapest and other popular tourist locations. 

This means that tourists can now more easily use UnionPay cards to pay at various stores in Hungary, and can also withdraw cash at nearly half of the ATM terminals.

Facilitating cross-border trade

UnionPay International has been continuously striving to improve its global acceptance coverage to promote the convenience of cross-border payments and transactions. UnionPay actively promotes emerging payment methods, including mobile payment products and online payment services, to meet the changing payment preferences of cardholders. These efforts help facilitate cross-border commerce and provide cardholders with more payment options.

At the same time, in order to ensure that European and American merchants can accept UnionPay cards in their online or physical stores, Silkpay provides specialized services. We help European merchants to not only ensure the acceptance of UnionPay cards, but also to provide more payment methods like Alipay, Wechat Pay, Visa and Mastercard. In that way, merchants can benefit from cross-border trade and attract more Chinese customers.

The development of UnionPay cards in Europe and the world

UnionPay card acceptance in Europe has reached 80%, a testament to UnionPay International's global growth. Countries frequently visited by Chinese tourists, like the UK, France, and Germany, already accept UnionPay cards. In Italy, Spain, and other places, nearly all merchant POS and ATM terminals welcome UnionPay. 

UnionPay International’s Global Influence

UnionPay International actively promotes emerging payment methods, including mobile and online payments, to cater to evolving cardholder preferences. Additionally, UnionPay's improved acceptance environment has attracted local European institutions, with over 13 countries issuing more than 500,000 UnionPay cards. 

These cards are favored by European residents for local and cross-border transactions. UnionPay International spans 180 countries and regions, serving 63.5 million merchants, with 78 countries issuing over 200 million UnionPay cards, underscoring its global presence and expanding acceptance network.

How to accept UnionPay in your store in Europe?

Silkpay's service provides support for European merchants to ensure that they can accept UnionPay cards, further enriching payment options. This kind of cooperation and development not only helps improve tourists' payment experience, but also provides valuable support for the recovery of the global payment market and the construction of a digital acceptance environment. We encourage merchants to explore Silkpay’s services to experience a wider range of payment methods.

Read more about accepting UnionPay.

Conclusion

This cooperation marks UnionPay International’s efforts in the global payment field, especially in the European market. Cooperation can help improve the payment experience and support the recovery of the global payment market and the construction of a digital acceptance environment. UnionPay International will continue to promote innovation and improvement to provide cardholders with more convenient payment options.


Source

https://www.mpaypass.com.cn/news/202309/28111114.html

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About the author: Silkpay

Based in Paris, Silkpay provides omnichannel and secure payment solutions to help physical stores and e-commerce in Europe accept more than 30 of the world's most popular payment methods: Visa, Mastercard, CB, UnionPay, Alipay+, WeChat Pay as well as Asia-Pacific’s major e-wallets.

Silkpay is a winner of the LVMH Innovation Award. The company was also selected as a finalist for the "Money 20/20" Best Startup and in the "MPE Berlin” Startup Awards. Silkpay also won the "Best Fintech" awards from Capgemini and BPCE.

Silkpay helps merchants deliver the smoothest payment experience to their customers. We are a talented and international team driven by a single goal: to improve the customer experience and make payments simple and secure.