SINGAPORE, Oct. 23, 2020 /PRNewswire/ — UnionPay International (UPI) announced today that it will collaborate with Aleta Planet, a renowned Singapore-based fintech company, to launch AP-1, an e-wallet aimed at offering users the convenience of UnionPay’s QR code payment. At present, 18 e-wallet products that comply with UnionPay specifications are available to provide UnionPay cardholders with quick and secure payment in five Southeast Asian countries.
Till date, UnionPay cards are issued in all ten ASEAN countries, and several new payment scenarios for UnionPay mobile payment have been developed with nearly 500,000 local merchants are enabled. In this context, UPI has either developed or upgraded local e-wallets with UnionPay specifications in collaboration with several institutions in Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam, and Cambodia. The new products have turned out to be popular among local residents.
UnionPay mobile payment service in Southeast Asia has the following three distinctive characteristics:
- Interconnected service areas. Users in Southeast Asia only need to link their cards once to pay with the UnionPay powered wallets both within their home country and in other countries of the region as well as in China.
- A wide range of products. UnionPay has implemented a portfolio of products, such as UnionPay QR code wallets, HCE wallets and UnionPay Mobile QuickPass, in the region. They support physical card enrollment and virtual card issuance, providing flexibility to meet different user preferences in different markets.
- A well-developed ecosystem. In addition to financial institutions, UPI also works with mobile phone manufacturers and telecommunication companies to serve more local UnionPay cardholders.
The UnionPay card acceptance coverage has reached 90% in Singapore, with more than 50,000 local merchants supporting UnionPay mobile payment service. AP-1 users can easily make payments on UnionPay’s global QR network as long as they link their UnionPay cards issued by Aleta Planet to the wallet, or apply for a UnionPay virtual card in the app.
Currently, UnionPay cards are accepted in 179 countries and regions worldwide, of which 61 support UnionPay mobile payment, and close to 90 e-wallet products conforming to UnionPay specifications are made available in 14 countries and regions.