UnionPay, the card scheme with the world’s largest cardholder base, today announces that it has signed a new market development agreement with Nets, a leading payment services provider in the Nordics with a strong footprint across Europe as part of leading European PayTech Nexi Group.

The agreement will enable UnionPay contactless acceptance throughout Nets’ Nordic merchant portfolio, adding a significant increase on top of the existing over 100,000 POS terminals in Denmark, Sweden and Norway. And further UnionPay acceptance will be extended to more than 6,000 ATMs in Denmark, Sweden, Norway and Finland, resulting in almost full ATM acceptance across the entire Nordic region. UnionPay and Nets also expect to reach a new agreement to extend UnionPay’s existing POS merchant acceptance rate in Finland.

As international travel recovers, UnionPay cardholders visiting the Nordics will be able to use their card or mobile phone to pay at POS terminals by contactless and complete the payment swiftly and securely. The Nordic region has been an increasingly popular destination for UnionPay cardholders in recent years, welcoming over 1.5 million in 2019. 

Nets and UnionPay International have enjoyed a long and successful partnership dating back to 2007. Since then, consistent progress has been made towards achieving complete acceptance of UnionPay cards throughout the Nordic region’s POS network. 

Han Wang, Deputy Head of UnionPay International European Branch, said “We are delighted to have signed this significant new agreement with our long-term partner Nets, which substantially increases UnionPay acceptance across the entire Nordic region. As we see international travel begin to normalise, the Nordics will once again become a key destination for UnionPay cardholders to Europe. We look forward to continuing to strengthen our partnership with Nets over the coming years.”

Robert Hoffmann, CEO Merchant Services Nets, said “We are excited to be offering a significantly larger number of our merchant clients the opportunity to accept UnionPay. Expanding the array of payment means at the point of sale enables merchants to better accommodate the payment preferences of their customers which is known to be an important revenue driver. Our partnership with UnionPay is particularly important for merchants located in the many popular tourist destinations across the Nordic region. As UnionPay cardholders start to return, merchants will be well set to provide them with a preferred and easy payment option.” 

With over billions of cards accumulatively issued worldwide, UnionPay is the card payment organisation with the world’s largest cardholder base. Meanwhile, its global network has extended to 180 countries and regions with issuance in 70 countries and regions.