SID Accredited Director | Board Member | Asia Business & ESG Expert | Advocate for Sustainable Foreign Investment | Trusted Advisor & Speaker | Corporate Strategy Leader
💼📈🌏 Brace yourselves for a plot twist in the payments universe. We've all been under the impression that Visa and Mastercard run the show. But, hold on! The dark horse in the race, UnionPay, has been silently galloping ahead. Founded in 2002, this Chinese payment giant surpassed Mastercard by transaction volume back in 2017. Fast forward to 2023, UnionPay recorded a colossal 228 billion transactions globally 🌐, now only second to Visa's 267 billion. And get this - UnionPay even outdid Visa and Mastercard in terms of overall payment value. Meanwhile, our American Express and Discover cards? Not even close. UnionPay's power base? China. Its secret weapon? It's the only interbank network linking all ATMs in the country. And while credit card products are on the rise, the majority of UnionPay transactions are still debit. But what about our promising fintech wonders like PayPal and Apple Pay? Well, they've turned into collaborators, not competitors, with Visa and Mastercard. Why? Because the two giants have built the highways of the payment world 🛣️ and collect a toll on every transaction. And that toll makes a difference. American Express cards, with their higher merchant fees, are less popular, limiting their acceptance. So, when you're strategizing your next business move in Asia, remember - the payments landscape isn't what it seems. The giants you thought were leading might be following, and the dark horse might just be leading the race. The game's afoot. Are you ready to play? 🎲💼🌏 Chart courtesy of the Visual Capitalist.
Hi David, thanks for share. I seek your opinion to confirm if its true that in China foreign credit card spend linked to their payment platform has a certain limit - up to S$2700 ? I ask someone in China and they claim its not true. They even tell me its your own credit card company credit limit that is limiting your spend.
But: the same way Paypal and Apple Pay are collaborators with Mastercard and Visa, Unionpay provides the basis for Alipay and Wechat Pay. I would bet only a tiny fraction of these 228 billion transactions of Unionpay are actually done with a physical card.
Incredible perspective, such a game changer! 🎲💼
Only if 🇨🇳 buys MasterCard out. If not, it's just thin air.
SID Accredited Director | Board Member | Asia Business & ESG Expert | Advocate for Sustainable Foreign Investment | Trusted Advisor & Speaker | Corporate Strategy Leader
1mohttps://www.visualcapitalist.com/visa-mastercard-unionpay-transaction-volumes/