UnionPay Enables Cross-Border B2B Payments For Yiwu Market

UnionPay International is expanding its support for cross-border B2B payments through an integration with wholesale eCommerce market Yiwu Market, based in China.

According to a press release issued on Monday (Jan. 8), UnionPay’s Cross-Border B2B Payment Service Platform is now linked into the official Yiwu Market website, enabling corporate buyers outside China to pay for goods on Yiwu using UnionPay cards issued overseas. Yiwu Market is the largest commodities wholesale market in the world.

UnionPay said the collaboration will strengthen its reach to small businesses (SMBs) that use Yiwu to procure goods. The eCommerce market exports to the Middle East, Europe, Central and South America and Africa.

The company cited research from the China eCommerce Research Center, which found cross-border eCommerce transaction volume grew year over year by 30 percent in China in the first half of 2017. Exports made up 80 percent of that volume.

UnionPay’s global B2B payments solution first rolled out last year to support cross-border supplier payments, invoice management, foreign exchange settlement, accounts receivable and other B2B services.

Last October, UnionPay struck a partnership with First Data to expand its card products into the U.S. market and allow tourists from China visiting the U.S. to make payments using their UnionPay cards at merchants using First Data services.

“We are very glad to strengthen our partnership with First Data,” said June Chen, general manager of UnionPay International America, at the time. “We believe this new partnership will not only offer safer payment services to our cardholders visiting the United States, but also lay a solid foundation for the future rollout of UnionPay’s innovative products based on chip cards in the U.S.”