China UnionPay, Banks Expand HCE-Based Mobile Payments in Advance of Apple Pay Launch

NFC Times Exclusive Insight – Even as major Chinese banks and payment network China UnionPay prepare to participate in what is expected to be the launch of Apple Pay in China in the first quarter, they are expanding their Android-based mobile-payments services using host card emulation.

UnionPay on Saturday announced that it was launching a Cloud Quick Pass service with more than 20 Chinese banks, including China’s big four state-owned financial institutions, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, China Construction Bank, Agricultural Bank of China and Bank of China. Others include China Merchants Bank, Bank of Communications and Bank of Beijing. 

As NFC Times reported in October, seven major China banks, including at least three of the big four, had launched HCE or were planning to do so. But Saturday’s announcement expands on those launches and appears to increase the centralized coordination by UnionPay. 

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