ANZ first Australian bank to offer contactless acceptance for UnionPay International cards
ANZ today announced it will introduce contactless technology to its EFTPOS terminals across Australia and New Zealand to improve the service and security for UnionPay International’s five billion worldwide cardholders.
ANZ is the first bank in Australia and the Pacific region to implement UnionPay’s QuickPass® contactless capability, which will be made available to approximately 90,000 ANZ EFTPOS terminals across Australia. Myer, Harvey Norman and DreamWorld will be amongst the first organisations to offer this functionality.
Speaking at a launch ceremony held in Myer Melbourne today, ANZ CEO Mike Smith said: “UnionPay International is the leading card network throughout China, with more than 50% of all cards in circulation. It is also the only card network that issues, clears and settles in Yuan.
“Every year, more and more Chinese tourists, students and business people travel to Australia, with around 800,000 visiting in 2014. As a super regional bank operating in 34 markets, we recognised that we needed to expand our card payment options to support customers’ cross-border activities,” Mr Smith said.
Myer CEO, Richard Umbers said: “The Myer team is committed to creating a wonderful shopping experience for our customers, so we welcome the opportunity to accept China UnionPay at all Myer stores across Australia. Significant numbers of tourists visit our stores on a daily basis and we’re excited to offer them a new and easy payment method.”
Mr. Cai Jianbo, CEO of UnionPay International, a subsidiary of China UnionPay said: “We are glad to partner with ANZ and this cooperation will dramatically expand the UnionPay card acceptance footprint in Australia and New Zealand while in the meantime bringing about breakthroughs in innovative payments.
“As the next step, we will work closely with Australian institutions in promoting the cross- border application of innovative UnionPay products and services in a bid to expand the acceptance of QuickPass, improve card-using services and provide UnionPay cardholders with payment experiences that are both secure and convenient,” Mr Cai said.
ANZ will launch contactless acceptance technology for UnionPay International customers in New Zealand by the end of 2015, and mag-stripe and EMV compliant acceptance will be introduced to ANZ’s EFTPOS terminals and ATMs across 11 markets in Asia Pacific from early 2016.