China UnionPay, the world’s biggest card issuer, is to start offering debit and credit cards in Europe for the first time as the Chinese state-controlled giant continues its global expansion to challenge Visa and Mastercard.
UnionPay, which has issued more than 6bn cards in China, has partnered with Tribe Payments, a new UK-based back-office technology start-up, to allow banks and fintechs to start offering individuals and companies its branded cards from this month.
“This agreement shows UnionPay’s intent to compete with the major card schemes in Europe,” said Suresh Vaghjiani, the founder of Tribe. “This is the first time European institutions will be able to put UnionPay cards into the hands of people on the street.”