OREANDA-NEWS. Sberbank has begun servicing cards of international payment system UnionPay in its acquiring network and at self-service devices. Terminals equipped with contactless readers can now be used to make contactless payments with UnionPay branded cards.

Currently most transactions using UnionPay cards in Russia are made by tourists from China and other countries of the Asia-Pacific Region. In connection with this, cities and regions that are popular tourist destinations will be the focus for providing service infrastructure for these cards.

“By servicing UnionPay cards we will be providing significant competitive advantages to and promoting business growth of the bank’s partners who operate in the Asia segment of the tourism industry, as well as those in HoReCa,” commented Svetlana Kirsanova, Senior Managing Director of Sberbank. “By the end of 2017 we plan to have UnionPay servicing in place at no less than 130,000 retail points.”

Founded in China in 2002, UnionPay is the fastest growing payment system in the world. There are currently more than 6.5 billion active UnionPay branded bank cards, which are accepted in 162 countries. UnionPay cards are covered by a network of more than two million ATMs and over 41 million retail and service points worldwide.