China UnionPay, a banking card association, is planning to invest nearly CNY200m ($32.02m) in expanding its payment services business on the back of growing e-payments market in the country.
The association noted that third-party payment firms account for majority of market share.
China UnionPay assistant president Hu Ying was quoted by China Daily as saying the company is promoting the use of mobile devices for making payments instead of card swiping.
The mobile payment practice has created a lot of business opportunities across both online and offline payment channels, added Ying.
According to IResearch’s study, online third-party payment market in China is worth CNY5.4tn ($874.37bn), and is expected to grow more than twice in next four years.
China UnionPay president Shi Wenchao said the company intends to strengthen its role as a payment service provider and provide an open platform to help card issuers and holders.
"Our goal is to appeal to more cardholders, so they are willing to complete transactions via UnionPay and enjoy more services and products of the UnionPay card," Shi added.
The company, meanwhile, is offering discounts to cardholders with initial card numbers of 62 during the period 31 May to 1 June as a part of International Children’s Day and China’s Dragon Boat Day. The discounts can be leveraged either by swiping the cards or using mobile app Wallet.
