UnionPay Facts and Statistics

• China’s only card brand.
• Established in 2002 by the People’s Republic of China.
• 1 billion active cardholders in China
• Over 5 billion cards issued worldwide
• Largest bank card issuer in the world.
• More than 50% of new cards issued globally are UnionPay cards
• UnionPay is accepted in more than 140 countries and the number is growing!
• 618 million Chinese Internet users account for less than half of the country’s total population
• Chinese spent a record $7.7 billion USD on shopping in the U.S. last year, according to U.S. Commerce Department data. An increase of at least 30 percent annually in seven of the past eight years.
• Cross-border (online transaction volume outside of China) 26.1 billion RMB at the end of 2011
• UnionPay has an over $11 billion USD enterprise value and is backed by the China government
• Chinese consumers are demanding acceptance of their card type in the US.
• Today, Chinese tourists come to the US and primarily pay cash. Although nearly 90% of the ATMs in the USA accept UnionPay cards to provide cash, these ATM transactions carry FX premiums and additional cross-border transaction fees that discourage spending.
• Chinese tourists spending with a co-branded UnionPay/Visa/MasterCard card pay an extra 3% currency conversion fee.
• THERE’S NO CURRENCY CONVERSION FEE WHEN YOU ACCEPT UnionPay THROUGH EIRTH.

Contact EIRTH at 702.608.5939 x2002.