UnionPay Launches Digital Bankcard

What’s new: Chinese financial services company UnionPay teamed with 17 banks to launch a digital bankcard, allowing users around the world to apply for the virtual cards without actually visiting a bank and use them through various platforms.

“This is the beginning of UnionPay's transition from traditional physical cards to online cards,” said Guo Yuhang, head of UnionPay’s institution department.

In addition to national and regional commercial banks, Tencent-backed virtual bank WeBank is one of partners of the digital card.

The digital debit and credit card can be linked to apps of banks and merchants, such as JD.com and Baidu’s consumer finance app Du Xiaoman, and allow users to pay with QR codes by tapping the screen.

The background: Amid the Covid-19 pandemic, banks and merchants are trying to promote contactless transactions through the use of mobile and online banking. Most conventional retail banking services, such as deposits, loans, remittances, wealth management and consumer loans, have moved online.

UnionPay already launched a virtual debit card in Hong Kong in cooperation with Livi bank, the virtual bank backed by Bank of China (Hong Kong).

Quick Takes are condensed versions of China-related stories for fast news you can use. To read the full story in Chinese, click here.

Contact reporter Denise Jia (huijuanjia@caixin.com) and editor Bob Simison (bobsimison@caixin.com)

Support quality journalism in China. Subscribe to Caixin Global starting at $0.99.