Latest Updates China's card payment service, China UnionPay Merchant Services, establishes corporation in Tokyo

Apr 23, 2018

China UnionPay Merchant Services Co., Ltd (China UMS), a member of the China UnionPay Group, was established in 2002. They mainly provide operations and payment services for POS systems. In order to expand the use of UnionPay cards, the company has grown to become one of the largest POS machine companies in the Asia-Pacific, disseminating the POS terminals that take UnionPay cards and providing payment services.

In recent years, with the increase of Chinese tourists visiting Japan, China UnionPay has been aware that they have to develop a system for Chinese users for their purchase and settlement of goods through the Internet in Japan. While the UnionPay bank card is affiliated with Japanese banks, and while use of bank cards is increasing for retail outlets such as department stores, electronic retailers and duty-free shops frequented by Chinese tourists, there are some retailers that do not accept the UnionPay debit card and some rural areas where the settlement system of the UnionPay card is not available.

Under this background, in June 2017, China UMS established a Japanese base, acquiring Merchant Support Co., Ltd., with the aim of promoting credit card terminals and responding to the needs of the increasing number of UnionPay card merchants and card users. China UMS has inherited the company's early settlement payment agency business. In the future, they plan to increase the number of member retailers throughout Japan where terminals can be set up and perform credit card services and settlement through QR code scanning. As of March 2018, more than 17,000 stores have joined the company's services.

For its establishment of Japanese base, JETRO's Invest Japan Business Support Center (IBSC) information on authorization for card settlement by experts, market information and consultation on registration.