UnionPay International (UPI) partners with Aleta Planet to launch AP-1

By Edil Corneille

Today, UnionPay International (UPI) announced its collaboration with Singapore-based FinTech company – Aleta Planet, to launch AP-1, an e-wallet aimed at offering users the convenience of UnionPay’s QR code payment. At present, 18 e-wallet products that comply with UnionPay specifications are available to provide UnionPay cardholders with quick and secure payment in 5 Southeast Asian countries.

Till date, UnionPay cards are issued in all of the 10 ASEAN countries, and several new payment scenarios for mobile payments have been developed with nearly 500,000 local merchants being enabled for this. In this context, UPI has either developed or upgraded local e-wallets with specifications in collaboration with several institutions in Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam, and Cambodia.

The mobile payment service in Southeast Asia has the following three distinctive characteristics, as mentioned by UPI.

• Interconnected service areas: Users in Southeast Asia only need to link their cards once to pay with the UnionPay powered wallets both within their home country and in other countries of the region as well as in China.
• A wide range of products: A portfolio of products has been implemented such as QR code wallets, HCE wallets and Mobile QuickPass, in the region. They support physical card enrollment and virtual card issuance, providing flexibility to meet different user preferences in different markets.
• A well-developed ecosystem: In addition to financial institutions, UPI also works with mobile phone manufacturers and telecommunication companies to serve more local UnionPay cardholders.

The company’s card acceptance coverage has reached 90 per cent in Singapore, with more than 50,000 local merchants supporting its mobile payment service. AP-1 users can easily make payments on UnionPay’s global QR network as long as they link their UnionPay cards issued by Aleta Planet to the wallet, or apply for a UnionPay virtual card in the app.

Currently, UnionPay cards are accepted in 179 countries and regions worldwide, of which 61 support the mobile payment, and close to 90 e-wallet products conforming to the company’s specifications are made available in 14 countries and regions.