Huawei to promote Huawei Pay globally with UnionPay partnership

Huawei has announced that it has signed a cooperation agreement with Chinese financial services company UnionPay International to accelerate the global promotion of its mobile payment platform.

The Chinese multinational telecommunications company is one of many firms who are looking to expand their mobile payment service offerings, with the market expected to grow significantly in the coming years.

See also:

• Mastercard on Australia's growing digital payment sector

• Equinix's top tips for embracing the ecommerce revolution

• PayPal and TransferWise remain dominant in growing UK mobile banking market

Huawei Pay is China's first ever security chip-based mobile payment service, currently supported by over 66 banks and compatible with 20 different mobile devices including handsets, smart watches and alike.

"This cooperation with Huawei is of great significance. Firstly, with this agreement, the two sides realise cooperation on a global scale, and issuers outside mainland China are able to launch Huawei Pay PAYG once connected to UnionPay Mobile Service Platform, which greatly saves time and economic costs," Huawei said. 

"Secondly, UnionPay innovative products become an important propeller to the business localisation of the two parties, and it supports the payment upgrade of more countries and regions. Thirdly, the cooperation between the two giants will jointly enhance the global influence of China’s independent mobile payment apps."

Russia will become the first overseas market to have Huawei Pay made available, with approximately 85% of POS terminals and ATMs in Russia accepting Union Pay bank cards.

Last year, $631.8mn worth of payments were made using Huawei Pay.