UnionPay International (‘UPI’), a leading global payment provider, has further expanded its offering to cardholders with its ‘tap-and-go’ service, UnionPay QuickPass, at Galeries Lafayette Haussmann store in Paris. The latest addition takes the total number of point-of-sale (POS) terminals accepting UnionPay QuickPass to over 700,000 in Europe, the majority of which are located in Italy, Greece and France.
The service has been enabled on all Galeries Lafayette Haussmann POS terminals. The launch of this service will bring customers frictionless payment experience as they can make tap-and-go payments with QuickPass-enabled UnionPay chip cards or smartphones.
This innovation, the first on the French market, was made possible with the contribution of Crédit Agricole Payment Services and Crédit Agricole d’Ile-de-France. Crédit Agricole, Founding Member of UnionPay International and pioneer in the acquisition of UnionPay cards in France, has thus strengthened its relationship with Galeries Lafayette, one of the main accepting partners of UnionPay International in France.
In partnership with more than 2,000 institutions worldwide, UPI has enabled card acceptance in 177 countries and regions with issuance in 58 countries and regions.
According to China Tourism Research Institute, about 3 million Chinese tourists visited Europe in the first half of 2019, marking a year-on-year increase of 7.4%. Being the major payment brand of Chinese outbound travellers, UnionPay attaches great importance to the European market. In France, for instance, about 250,000 stores – mostly shopping malls, duty-free shops, airport stores, designer brand stores, restaurants and hotels – accept UnionPay cards. Also, about 80% of ATMs in France provide cash withdrawal services to UnionPay cardholders. In Paris, stores at famous shopping destinations, such as Avenue des Champs-Élysées, Place Vendôme, and Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport, all accept UnionPay services.
To date, UnionPay’s services cover 90% of countries and regions in Europe. In the first half of this year, over 600,000 stores in Europe are newly enabled to accept UnionPay cards, boosting the local coverage rate to 65%.
“Europe has been the second-largest destination for Chinese tourists, following Asia; and France has always been a favoured destination,” said Wei Zhihong, Market Director and Head of Europe at UPI. “Galeries Lafayette is one of our most important partners in France, and QuickPass’ full coverage in its Haussmann location has set an excellent basis for future cooperation with other businesses and merchants in the region.”
