UnionPay, VNPAY, ECPay Bringing Contactless QR Code Payments to Vietnam

Global payment network UnionPay announces partnerships with leading innovative payments acquirers VNPAY and ECPay to deploy UnionPay Quick Response (QR) Code at close to 15K merchants all over Vietnam. These collaborations will significantly enhance the existing 45K merchant network that already accepts UnionPay QR Code for payment. The small, medium and big merchants enabled with UnionPay QR Code payment spans across a wide range of industry verticals ranging from convenient store, electricity service, F&B, healthcare, mini-mart, provision shop, retail, supermarket, telco and more.

UnionPay kickstarted the nationwide deployment of the EMV-compliant QR Code for payments at merchants in Vietnam in 2018 to pave way for its foray into innovative payment products and services. In late 2020, UnionPay collaborated with Military Bank (MB) to issue its first Virtual Debit Card to 600K customers in Vietnam, its largest issuance in the market.

To encourage more UnionPay QR Code transactions at merchants, UPI launched a 10% instant discount campaign at VNPAY's merchants for everyday spend categories, including familiar names like Luôn Tươi Sạch, Medicare, Sói Biển, Sữa Tươi, TH True Mart and more.

According to statistics from Vietnam's Department of Telecommunications, the country had 132.5 million active mobile subscriber accounts at end 2020, even though total population is less than 100 million. So mobile and innovative payments like QR Code for payment are expected to be readily adopted by Vietnamese consumers and businesses across Vietnam, even in the rural, remote and isolated areas.