UnionPay holds all the cards

Financial firm's expansion supports BRI, enables two-way flow of talent, and helps travelers

China UnionPay, a Chinese bank card organization, is ramping up efforts to expand its business in overseas markets to support the Belt and Road Initiative or BRI, in addition to facilitating fast growing personnel exchanges between China and the rest of the world.

The number of UnionPay cards issued outside the Chinese mainland exceeded 100 million as of Oct 18. The volume of transactions via these cards grew more than 40 percent during the first three quarters of this year, said UnionPay International.