SHANGHAI, China, CLEVELAND and CHICAGO, Dec. 11, 2012 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- China UnionPay, the leading bankcard association in the world, with over 3.2 billion issued cards, will now give Chinese shoppers with UnionPay cards an option to make online purchases at the websites of participating Discover® Merchants while leveraging CardinalCommerce®'s technology neutral platform for a simple integration.
The UnionPay Online Payments (UPOP) service is UnionPay's e-Commerce solution and was developed in response to the needs of issuers to offer UnionPay cardholders a safe and secure way to make purchases online around the world and in the U.S. Chinese are the largest group of international students in the U.S. with an increase of over 20% in 2011.
UPOP will be available to Discover's merchants, early in 2013, using the Centinel® Universal Merchant Platform through Cardinal. For a Discover merchant already using Centinel, it is as simple as placing the UPOP payment button on their checkout page to support a new payment option that enables consumers to pay using their UnionPay cards. For these merchants, no implementation required and no changes are necessary to existing settlement and reporting from Discover. It is a turnkey solution that makes it easy for merchants to be accessible to the 3.2 billion payment cards in the hands of Chinese shoppers.
"UnionPay's close relationship with Discover and Cardinal will provide a secure payment solution for UnionPay cardholders at U.S. on-line merchants," said Larry Wang, Vice President, International Division China UnionPay. "UnionPay fully expects that cardholders in China, as well as UnionPay cardholders currently in the United States, will take advantage of this expanded shopping opportunity."
"With the UnionPay new secure online payment solution, UPOP, participating Discover merchants can enjoy secure UnionPay online payments, ease of implementation, and consolidated settlement and reporting," says Joseph Hurley, Vice President, Global Business Development at Discover. "This is a natural evolution of our strategic alliance with UnionPay that's been in place since 2005, and something we are happy to support."
"We're excited to add UPOP as a payment option in Centinel across the Discover Network of retail merchants," said Janet Kapostasy, Vice President, Financial Institution Services, CardinalCommerce Corporation. "Our technology neutral platform lets Discover offer a seamless payment solution to their merchants while reaching billions of new customers, safely and securely."
About China UnionPay
As a global bankcard network, China UnionPay, headquartered in China operates the national inter-bank clearing and settlement system, develops the worldwide UnionPay Card acceptance network, promotes the issuance and usage of the UnionPay Card as well as other innovative payment solutions, so as to provide quality, efficient and safe payment services to cardholders. To date, the total number of the UnionPay Card issued both at home and abroad has been 3.2 billion. The UnionPay network has been extended to all the cities and rural areas in China. In addition, China UnionPay has enabled the UnionPay Card acceptance over 130 countries and regions through extensive cooperation with about 400 financial institutions around the world. Additional information may be found at: www.unionpay.com.
About Discover
Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS) is a direct banking and payment services company with one of the most recognized brands in U.S. financial services. Since its inception in 1986, the company has become one of the largest card issuers in the United States. The company operates the Discover card, America's cash rewards pioneer, and offers home loans, private student loans, personal loans, online savings accounts, certificates of deposit and money market accounts through its direct banking business. Its payment businesses consist of Discover Network, with millions of merchant and cash access locations; PULSE, one of the nation's leading ATM/debit networks; and Diners Club International, a global payments network with acceptance in more than 185 countries and territories. For more information, visit www.discoverfinancial.com.
About CardinalCommerce
CardinalCommerce has been a pioneer in the remote payments industry since 1999 and is a branded global leader in enabling authenticated payment transactions in the electronic commerce and remote commerce markets.
Cardinal's SaaS software platforms for merchants, banks, processors and transaction supply chain providers create friction-free interoperability among otherwise disparate and incompatible operating systems. Cardinal's platforms enable technology-neutral authentication across a wide range of applications. The Company's proprietary, patented solutions easily facilitate the addition of new technology for remote distribution channels through a single connection. This allows merchants to securely accept payments from the entire financial transaction ecosystem.
The universe of payments spans from traditional credit and debit card brands like MasterCard and Visa, to established and emerging alternative payment brands like PayPal, Green Dot, and Alipay. In accommodating this growing number of payment brands and methods, and these technology and authentication approaches within legacy infrastructure, Cardinal's platforms serve as universal switches, supporting virtually all merchant platforms, wallets, processing systems and authentication methodologies.
CardinalCommerce is headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio and services a worldwide Customer base from facilities in the United States, Europe and Africa. For more information, visit www.cardinalcommerce.com.