JAKARTA, Indonesia, Aug. 3, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- UnionPay International signed comprehensive cooperation agreements on August 2 with the top three Indonesian acquirers to expand its acceptance footprint in the market. These three acquirers are BCA, the biggest private bank in Indonesia, and Mandiri and BRI, two major state-owned banks. It is estimated that UnionPay's acceptance coverage at local merchants will increase from about 40% now to 80% by the end of 2017.
In recent years, the economic contact and personnel exchange between China and Indonesia are growing. This year, the Indonesian government announced its plan to attract 20 million international tourists each year in the next 3 to 4 years. In this context, UnionPay International is improving its payment services in the market. Now, 70% of the local ATMs and about 40% of merchants accept UnionPay cards. In popular destinations, UnionPay cards are accepted at over 60% of the merchants.
UnionPay International, by signing agreements with these mainstream institutions in Indonesia, aims to enable much more merchants to accept UnionPay cards. BCA has enabled some of its merchants in Jakarta and Bali to accept UnionPay cards. Now, it will enable all the rest of its POS terminals to accept UnionPay cards in two years. Mandiri will enable about 300,000 POS terminals to accept the UnionPay cards by the middle of 2017. BRI will enable over 100,000 POS terminals to accept UnionPay cards by the end of 2017. Now, the ATMs of these three institutions accept UnionPay cards for cash withdrawal.
"We are improving our acceptance footprint and promoting local card-issuance to support the personnel exchange between the two countries," says Cai Jianbo, CEO of UnionPay International. "First, we will enable 95% local ATMs and 80% merchants to accept UnionPay cards by the end of 2017. Second, we will issue UnionPay cards with Mandiri and BRI next year. Third, we will cooperate with local institutions in chip card standards."
UnionPay cards can be used conveniently in over 160 countries and regions, including all Southeast Asian countries. In Singapore, almost all ATMs and over 80% merchants accept UnionPay cards. The ATM acceptance coverage in Malaysia, Thailand, the Philippines and Vietnam is over 90%. UnionPay cards have been issued in all the 10 ASEAN countries. In 2014, the UnionPay card is issued for the first time by a local bank in Indonesia, Sinarmas.
