UnionPay cards to be issued in Sri Lanka for the first time

UnionPay enters another market. Source: shutterstock.com

UnionPay International announced that it has partnered with the Commercial Bank of Ceylon, the largest private bank in Sri Lanka, to issue various UnionPay card products in Sri Lanka. This is the first time that UnionPay cards are issued in the country.

Commercial Bank of Ceylon has enabled all its ATM and POS terminals to accept UnionPay cards since 2012 and 2017 respectively. Going forward, the two parties will expand the scope of cooperation to card issuance to support the personnel exchanges between China and Sri Lanka. Local residents can apply for UnionPay card products at various outlets of the bank. These cards can be used in the UnionPay network globally.

China has become Sri Lanka’s largest trading partner and the second largest tourist source country. At present, most merchants and ATM terminals in the tourist cities such as Colombo, Kandy and Galle accept UnionPay cards, and about 2,000 merchants accept UnionPay’s contactless payment service, QuickPass. In November this year, UnionPay International announced cooperation with the largest retail group in Sri Lanka, to roll-out UnionPay QR code payment service across merchants such as supermarkets and restaurants to accept UnionPay QR codes and also provide QR code payment service for local residents.

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