UnionPay International, HUAWEI & Solidarnost Bank to boost contactless payments in Russia

By Megha Bhattacharya

UnionPay International (UPI) today announced that its cardholders utilising HUAWEI or HONOR smartphones with Solidarnost Bank will now be able to make contactless payments with HUAWEI Pay in Russia. The development aims to boost the contactless payment industry in Russia and speed up the development of UPI and international mobile payment services.

“We are very glad to further extend our cooperation with Solidarnost Bank to introduce HUAWEI Pay to the Russian market,” said Xia Yu, Head of UnionPay International Russia Branch. “We hope that Solidarnost Bank cardholders can enjoy the convenience and security brought by the HUAWEI Pay service and UnionPay payment system.”

The collaboration makes Solidarnost Bank, the fourth in Russia to launch HUAWEI Pay with UPI. This will accelerate the use of UnionPay’s mobile contactless payment, Mobile QuickPass, with Huawei Pay in the country.

Solidarnost Bank is a Russian financial institution, operating in Samara, branches and additional offices have been opened in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Irkutsk, Yekaterinburg, Vladivostok, Blagoveshchensk, and Naberezhnye Chelny.

According to UnionPay, cardholders will be required to install the HUAWEI Wallet application, also available in the AppGallery app store. By adding the registered UnionPay card, cardholders can make purchases by tapping the phone at terminals that support UnionPay Mobile QuickPass with an authentication of a password or a fingerprint.

In Russia, UnionPay cards are accepted in over 95% of POS terminals and ATMs. Over 1.6 million POS terminals accept UnionPay cards with QuickPass contactless payment technology, and over 3 million UnionPay cards have been issued in Russia.

Users of HUAWEI Pay can also benefit from promotions applicable to UnionPay’s contactless cardholders including gifts and discounts of up to 70% in multiple categories including restaurants, hotels, entertainment, transportation, and many others.