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UnionPay, Apple reach Apple Pay agreement for China, say sources

Apple Pay in the U.S. and United Kingdom are now supported by the majority of banks and payment providers, although their most recent launches in Canada and Australia have limited support at the moment.

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China UnionPay, which operates the country’s largest payment and clearing network, will help introduce Apple Pay to the market, a Bloomberg report said, citing sources.

Apple Pay is stealing consumer’s loyalty in multiple countries.

Apple is hoping to bring its mPayment service to China by February, according to new reports.

Meanwhile, more and more firms are trying to connect with Apple Pay, expecting it to get bigger.

China represents a sector that generates major portion of Apple’s revenue with each passing quarter, as mentioned by Apple Insider. The company gets 0.15 percent of all credit card transactions and 0.5 cents per debit transaction in the United States, the paper said.

The Wall Street Journal adds that Apple will also be dealing with Alipay, a service run by an affiliate of Alibaba Group Holdings Ltd. and WeChat, a chat-and-service app by Tencent Holdings Ltd. Without a deal with UnionPay, Apple’s card-based product is of no use.

SHANGHAI/BEIJING – Chinese UnionPay and Apple have reached a preliminary agreement to introduce Apple Pay in China through UnionPay’s point-of-sales network, people familiar with the matter said.

This could be a huge deal for Apple Pay, the iPhone based payment system that relies on stores upgrading their expensive credit card readers from the previous generation to NFC chip card capable readers. The four state-owned banks are Bank of China, China Construction Bank, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China and Agricultural Bank of China, reports Mac Rumors.

Cook said last month that the company’s mobile-payment and digital-wallet service will be launched in Hong Kong next year with partner American Express.

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Earlier in September, we reported that Apple was attempting to make inroads into China with its Apple Pay service.

Apple Planning to Launch Apple Pay in China Hopes to Launch the Electronic Payment Service before