July 6 (SeeNews) - Bulgarian card payment company BORICA said on Friday it has signed a memorandum of cooperation with Chinese payment services provider UnionPay International opening the way for the launch of a project for acceptance of UnionPay's chip cards at all POS terminals and ATMs in Bulgaria.
The two companies also discussed potential cooperation in issuing payment cards co-badged by BORICA and UnionPay, enabling BORICA's Bcard members to issue cards with wider international acceptance, BORICA said in a statement following the signing of the document on the sidelines of the 16+1 summit of countries of Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) and China in Sofia.
The cooperation of the two companies is focused on three main aspects: to provide UnionPay cardholders with an option to make cash transactions and mobile payments in Bulgaria; UnionPay to help expand the use of BORICA's Bcard outside Bulgaria through co-badged cards; introduction of online payments through QR code and e-wallets.
The '16+1' is an initiative of the Chinese government for tighter cooperation with 11 EU member states and five countries in CEE - Albania, Bosnia, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Macedonia, Montenegro, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia and Slovenia.
BORICA operates the bank card system in Bulgaria, servicing local banks, which issue and accept payments.
UnionPay International (UPI) is a subsidiary of China UnionPay focused on the growth and support of UnionPay’s global business. In partnership with more than 1800 institutions worldwide, UnionPay International has enabled card acceptance in 169 countries and regions with issuance in 48 countries and regions.