China-based payment network enters Cebu

China-based UnionPay International enters the Philippine market, making Cebu as point of entry.

With the growing interest of Chinese nationals to come to the Philippines either for business or tourism purposes, UnionPay International Southeast Asia deputy general manager Vincent Ling said the company felt the need to have a presence here.

Ling was in Cebu recently to present UnionPay's payment network service to the Cebu business community.

UnionPay is a global payment network that serves the world's largest cardholder base.

Most Chinese nationals are UnionPay cardholders and their frequent visits to the Philippines prompted the company to build a strong network in the country.

Likewise, Cebu's businesses are also encouraged to be part of the UnionPay network to tap the growing 7 billion UnionPay cards issued in 48 countries and regions.

Cebuano businesses were invited by Ling to join the 51 million merchants and 2.57 million ATMs accepting UnionPay in 168 countries.

Ling said Cebu has a huge potential to become the top destination of choice among Chinese because of its good combination of leisure and business.

In 2017, Central Visayas alone registered 75 percent growth of Chinese arrival. This is expected to double this year.

According to Ling, UnionPay is anticipating the influx of Chinese tourists coming to Cebu as direct air connectivity is also improving.

Furthermore, if the Philippines will have a lot of merchants accepting UnionPay payments, increase in tourism receipts is also very likely.

In Southeast Asia, UnionPay International has enabled ATM, POS acceptance and card issuance across all 10 countries.

In the Philippines, a range of UnionPay Prepaid, debit and credit cards are issued by Banco de Oro (BDO), Bank of China (BOC), Omnipay, Philippine National Bank (PNB) and RCBC Bancard.