HANOI, Vietnam, Dec. 28, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Global payment network UnionPay announces partnerships with leading innovative payments acquirers VNPAY and ECPay to deploy UnionPay Quick Response (QR) Code at close to 15K merchants all over Vietnam. These collaborations will significantly enhance the existing 45K merchant network that already accepts UnionPay QR Code for payment. The small, medium and big merchants enabled with UnionPay QR Code payment spans across a wide range of industry verticals ranging from convenient store, electricity service, F&B, healthcare, mini-mart, provision shop, retail, supermarket, telco and more.
UnionPay kickstarted the nationwide deployment of the EMV-compliant QR Code for payments at merchants in Vietnam in 2018 to pave way for its foray into innovative payment products and services. In late 2020, UnionPay collaborated with Military Bank (MB) to issue its first Virtual Debit Card to 600K customers in Vietnam, its largest issuance in the market.
"Today marks a significant milestone for UnionPay International in Vietnam. As the first global payment network to deploy QR Code for payments nationwide, this affirms our commitment to bringing innovative payment solutions to the country to enable greater convenience, security and ease of payment for both consumers and merchants. We have seen how the pandemic have created a marked increase in demand for contactless payments like QR Code for payment, so we are pleased to be able to respond quickly to this changing payment need of our customers in Vietnam," said Huiming Cai, General Manager, UnionPay International (UPI) Southeast Asia.
To encourage more UnionPay QR Code transactions at merchants, UPI launched a 10% instant discount campaign at VNPAY's merchants for everyday spend categories, including familiar names like Luôn Tươi Sạch, Medicare, Sói Biển, Sữa Tươi, TH True Mart and more.
"VNPAY is one of the biggest QR Code for payment merchant acquirers in Vietnam. We are pleased that 17 of our top merchants with a network of over 1,200 stores all over Vietnam is participating in UnionPay QR Code promotion. Like UPI, we believe that increased usage at everyday merchants is the best way to drive adoption of innovative payments like QR Code as it is habit forming. We look forward to continue collaborating with UPI to enable UnionPay QR Code at more VNPAY merchants going forward," said Mrs. Nguyễn Ánh Tuyết – Head of Northern Business of VNPAY.
According to statistics from Vietnam's Department of Telecommunications, the country had 132.5 million active mobile subscriber accounts[1] at end 2020, even though total population is less than 100 million. So mobile and innovative payments like QR Code for payment are expected to be readily adopted by Vietnamese consumers and businesses across Vietnam, even in the rural, remote and isolated areas.
"In line with the Vietnam Central Bank's vision for a cashless society, we are pleased to join hands with UPI to make QR Code for payment available at ECPay merchants and outlets nationwide. With our diverse businesses in electricity, provision shops, telephony, transport and more, we can help UPI to foster a richer ecosystem for UnionPay QR Code payment, and help to spur the adoption of e-payment methods, to transform the nation into a cashless one," said Mr. LEEO (Li Wei), Deputy CEO, ECPay.
UnionPay's massive QR Code for payment deployment comes at an appropriate time to reduce physical contact, when the Vietnam government has encouraged the 5K standard rules – Khẩu trang – Khử khuẩn – Khoảng cách – Không tập trung – Khai báo y tế - during this pandemic.
See Annex A below for the full list of 17 merchants participating in the UnionPay QR Code 10% instant discount promotion. Offer is valid while stock lasts, on a first-come-first-served basis.
About UnionPay International
UnionPay International (UPI) focuses on the international business of UnionPay. In partnership with over 2,400 institutions worldwide, UnionPay International has enabled card acceptance in 180 countries and regions with issuance in 70 countries and regions. UPI provides high quality, cost effective and secure cross-border payment services to the world's largest Cardholder base and ensures convenient local services to a growing number of global UnionPay Cardholders and merchants.
In Vietnam, UnionPay products are widely accepted at ATMs and POS terminals all over the country. UPI works with Bank of China, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, Military Bank, Sacombank, and Vietinbank to offer a wide range of payment products ranging from physical cards, virtual cards, QR Code to mobile payment and more. For more information, visit www.unionpayintl.com/vn/.
About VNPAY
VNPay was established in March 2007, main activities in the field of mobile payment with the core business is finance - banking. The enterprise was granted a license by the State Bank to provide payment intermediary services in October 2015.
In the past VNPAY has invested and spent a lot of resources and costs on technology, programs and marketing activities, accompanied by service providers to bring many benefits to the service points, service providers (online and offline) and end users. The results are clearly shown in the form of cashless payment through VNPAY-QR, which has become popular with up to 150,000 acceptance points and is welcomed by consumers.
In early 2021, VNPAY officially launched a new version of VNPAY e-wallet, with the direction of prioritizing the family wallet feature. With this product, the company hopes that mobile payment can be accessible to all ages, not only parents but also for children and grandparents. VNPAY currently has more than 4,000 employees, including more than 1,200 engineers and many good experts in many different technology fields. The company has cooperated with banks and businesses to build a diverse ecosystem of payment products (electricity, water, tuition fees, apartment fees), a variety of financial utilities (account information, online savings, online loans), a variety of non-financial utility services (interactive information, virtual assistants, find service locations around, call a taxi), diversified forms of commerce (buying airline tickets, buying movie tickets, buying train tickets, long-distance car tickets and other tangible goods for daily consumption from diapers to milk; meat to television and washing machine) aiming to serve all daily activities of customers on Mobile Banking.
VNPAY considers itself to be an extension arm of banks, strategic partners of large service providers such as airlines, large travel, transportation, and retail corporations. Vietnamese people will have many wonderful experiences with technology-based digital products and services from VNPAY.
About ECPay
ECPAY was established by the Electricity Cooperation of Vietnam (EVN) on May 7, 2010, with the responsibility of building and managing a centralized electricity payment gateway of EVN, implementing the policy of the Prime Minister on promoting cashless payments. ECPay is implementing the goal of transforming payment digitally and online. With the payment services provided by ECPay, customers have many different payment options such as automatic debit, electricity bill advance, payment via e-wallet, QR Code payments, payment at transaction offices and collection points, and more. ECPay provides payment services that are fast, convenient, time-saving, and have simple registration procedures. ECPay aims to become one of the largest and strongest payment service companies in Vietnam. ECPay's sales have grown steadily and ECPay has achieved initial successes by connecting more than 30 million customers across Vietnam, operating 4,000 collection counters and transaction branch offices throughout 63 provinces. Now ECPay collaborates with 14 banks and many major partners such as Viettel, VTVCab, VNPT, PTI, EASY CREDIT, and more.
Converting the power of three tripods: intrinsic potential, nationwide customer system, and reliable partners, the ECPay brand has been increasingly affirmed and become the companion of millions of Vietnamese families.
Annex A
Merchants participating in UnionPay QR Code 10% instant discount
