Global Payments Says ‘Yes’ To Apple Pay In China

Apple Pay just earned another supporter abroad as it looks to grow its footprint in its newly launched region of China.

Global Payments, a provider of payment technology services, announced late last week (Feb. 19) that it would be offering merchants in China the option to accept China UnionPay payments via Apple Pay. What this means is that Global Payments is enabled for Apple Pay acceptance.

“Global Payments is pleased to offer merchants the ability to accept Apple Pay in the important China market,” said Frank T. Young, SVP of global product and innovation for Global Payments. “Our continued commitment to leading payments technology across the globe allows us to be at the forefront in delivering this innovative payments solution to merchants in the markets that we serve.”

Apple CEO Tim Cook has said many times how China could be Apple’s greatest market eventually. Can the same be said about Apple Pay, where there is already a clear favorite for mobile payments? According to Jennifer Bailey, VP of Apple Pay, via Reuters, it can.

Apple Pay will reportedly work with 19 Chinese banks, as well with China UnionPay. China’s biggest lender, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, agreed to work with Apple Pay on its launch day. So far, Apple has secured the support of the credit card issuers/networks that account for 80 percent of China’s credit/debit cards.

Apple’s UnionPay deal, however, could be a saving grace to make a mark in the region.

“China UnionPay and our Apple Pay solution has a huge advantage, given the footprint of China UnionPay,” Bailey told Reuters. “Its merchant acceptance network far exceeds what any of the other mobile platforms have today.”

Why China really matters for Apple Pay is the fact that more than 358 million Chinese consumers made online payments using their mobile devices in 2015, according to stats provided by the China Internet Network Information Center. Still, getting Apple Pay into China hasn’t been an easy task for Cook, as there have been plenty of regulatory hurdles to overcome.