SUVA, (ANZ) — ANZ has announced that ANZ point-of-sale (POS) and ATM terminals across nine countries in the Pacific will begin accepting UnionPay cards, enhancing service and convenience for UnionPay cardholders worldwide.
ANZ is the first bank in the Pacific to accept UnionPay EMV on ATMs, UnionPay’s more secure card solution for both credit and debit cards.
As of yesterday, ANZ POS terminals and ATMs in Papua New Guinea, Fiji, Vanuatu and Timor Leste will begin to accept UnionPay cards, with the rollout continuing across ANZ’s network in Solomon Islands, Tonga, Samoa, Kiribati and Cook Islands in coming weeks.
UnionPay is the most commonly used payment tool by outbound Chinese people, with 5.4 billion cards issued globally. Currently, UnionPay cards can be accepted in 157 countries and regions.
“As a bank that’s been in the Pacific for 135 years and operating across 34 countries around the world, we recognised that we needed to expand our card payment options to support customers’ growing cross-border activities and make payments simpler and more convenient for them while they are in our region,” said ANZ Regional Executive – Pacific Islands, Tessa Price.
“As China’s leading card network, having UnionPay enabled across our regional network is a significant step for ANZ and I’m pleased to see it come to fruition today,” Price said.
Speaking at a launch ceremony held at the Radisson Blu in Fiji, ANZ Fiji Acting CEO Saud Minam said acceptance of UnionPay cards at ANZ POS terminals and ATMs would be welcomed by the growing number of Chinese visitors to Fiji and the Pacific.
“Every year, the number of Chinese tourists, students and business people travelling to the Pacific grows,” said Minam. “In Fiji alone, tourist and visitor arrivals from China increased 36% last year, and today we’re happy to expand our value proposition to support this growing connectivity across our regions and in particular to support Asia tourism flows across the Pacific.”
Yesterday’s launch follows-on from a successful launch of UnionPay POS and ATM acceptance by ANZ in Australia in June 2015 and New Zealand in January 2016.
Cai Jianbo, Chief Executive Officer for UnionPay International, a subsidiary of China UnionPay said: “The South Pacific Island States are an integral part of the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road. With the increasingly frequent economic and trade contacts between China and the region, we are devoted to improving the local UnionPay acceptance environment so as to provide payment convenience to UnionPay cardholders visiting the countries.
Our cooperation with ANZ not only substantially improved UnionPay’s acceptance footprint and card-using experiences in South Pacific, but will also lay a solid foundation for card-issuance there in the future. Local issuance of UnionPay cards will offer new payment option for the local residents, and provide bidirectional support for the implementation of the ‘Belt and Road’ Strategy.”
UnionPay card acceptance will be introduced to ANZ EFTPOS terminals and ATMs across a further two countries in Asia from June 2016.
