UnionPay International and Bank of China issue UnionPay Dual Currency Debit Card in Hungary

Recently, UnionPay International and Bank of China (Hungary) Co., Ltd. jointly issued the UnionPay Dual Currency Debit Card, which is the first RMB bank card issued by the Bank of China in Europe.

Previously, Chinese banks mostly issued euro bank cards in Europe. As China's trade with European countries strengthened and the internationalization of the RMB accelerated, more and more European residents wanted to use RMB bank cards. The cooperation issued is a RMB and Forint dual-currency UnionPay debit card, which can be used in the UnionPay acceptance network in 160 countries and regions. The card is mainly for local business travellers, Chinese-funded employees and international students who travel to and from China and Hungary.

Shi Wenchao, president of China UnionPay, said that in recent years, the implementation of the RMB internationalization strategy has made remarkable progress along the “Belt and Road” market. Hungary is the first European country to sign a Memorandum of Understanding between the “Belt and Road” government with China. The exchanges between the two countries are frequent and cross-border payment needs are growing. In this context, China UnionPay fully utilized the unique advantages of UnionPay RMB cards to expand the cross-border use of RMB and provide support for the development of RMB business in Central and Eastern Europe including Hungary.

Xu Luode, deputy governor of Bank of China, said that the Bank of China Group has positioned Hungarian Bank of China as the Central and Eastern European Business Development Center and the RMB clearing center in Central and Eastern Europe, supporting the development of Hungary as a regional offshore RMB center, as the Bank of China established in Central and Eastern Europe. A business financial institution and the Hungarian renminbi clearing bank, Hungarian Bank of China will continue to follow the pulse of the market and strengthen product innovation. It will become the bank with the most complete renminbi products and the best service in Hungary, and will continue to play an important role in the Sino-Hungarian cooperation.

At present, 11 of the 16 countries in Central and Eastern Europe have opened UnionPay cards. Among them, more than half of POS terminals in Hungary and nearly 50% of ATMs can use UnionPay cards. In 2016, the UnionPay cards issued at home and abroad increased the transaction volume in Central and Eastern Europe by more than 40%.