Sampath Bank empowers local merchants with UnionPay Card acceptance

From left: Sampath Bank Executive – Card Centre Marketing Dimantha Abeydeera, Sampath Bank Senior Executive – Card Centre Marketing Buddhika Amunugama, Sampath Bank Senior Manager E-Remittance, KPO, Bank Notes Operations and Card Centre Marketing Darshin Pathinayake, Sampath Bank Senior Manager – Card Centre Operations Chaminda Jayasinghe, Sampath Bank Head of Card Centre, E Remittance and Bank Notes Operations Kusal De Silva, Sampath Bank Senior Deputy General Manager (DGM) – Consumer Banking Tharaka Ranwala, UnionPay International Director – Products Shuan Ghaidan, UnionPay International – Hong Kong Branch Office General Manager Liu Heng, UnionPay International Senior Head of South Asia Derek Chang, UnionPay International – Sri Lanka Country Manager Crispin Wijesekera and UnionPay International Senior Marketing Manager Arouf Samoon

Sampath Bank announced that its local merchant partners will now be able to accept UnionPay credit and debit cards for Point of Sale (POS) payments. This move is set to give a significant boost to the bank’s local merchant partners who will now be able to welcome UnionPay cardholders. UnionPay is now one of the largest payment card networks in the world. It will also bring in greater convenience to consumers, especially the growing number of Chinese tourists visiting the island.

UnionPay cardholders already enjoy a host of benefits and privileges from Sampath Bank including the ability to withdraw money from over 350 ATMs on the island. Now, they can pay for direct purchases using their UnionPay credit and debit cards. Cardholders can shop in peace as the EMV enabled UnionPay cards (i.e. cards with an EMV chip embedded in them) offer greater protection against counterfeit and other types of fraud. 

This facility has initially been made available at over 300 leading merchants around the island across key tourism related businesses such as gems and jewellery, tea, spices, dining and lodging and duty free shopping. These merchants will be able to accept UnionPay credit and debit cards in Sri Lankan Rupees and different foreign currencies on their Sampath Bank card terminals. Sampath Bank is striving to expand this to its base of over 5,000 terminals. 

Commenting on this, Sampath Bank PLC Senior Deputy General Manager – Consumer Banking Tharaka Ranwala said, “Given the steady growth in the number of tourists visiting the country from China, we were looking for ways in which we could help our merchant partners grow their business with them. Enabling UnionPay credit and debit card acceptance at Point of Sale (POS) for our merchant partners in partnership with UnionPay International is one of the steps we have taken to facilitate this. We look forward to seeing tourists and local merchants avail the benefits of this move.”

UnionPay International Product Director Shuan Ghaidan said, “With UnionPay as the leading payment method among Chinese tourists, the demand for local payment and cash withdrawal with our cards continues to increase. Earlier on, we already joined hands to enable POS business in Sri Lanka; today the further deepened partnership with Sampath Bank on POS acceptance will definitely lead to a win-win situation. We will continue to strive to provide our card users seamless payment services around the globe and as the next step, we look forward to further exploring other payment opportunities with Sampath Bank in Sri Lanka.”

UnionPay International (UPI) is a subsidiary of China UnionPay focused on international business. In partnership with more than 1,700 institutions worldwide, UnionPay International has extended its card acceptance to 162 countries and regions globally with issuance in over 42 countries and regions, covering 45 million merchants and 2.55 million ATMs. UnionPay serves the world’s largest cardholder base.

Established in 1987, Sampath Bank has become a state-of-the-art financial institution that continues to be a market leader today thanks to its constant innovation and customer focused approach to business. Its unique tailor-made solutions, superior services and convenience of access have allowed Sampath Bank to further differentiate itself from the competition and stand out as the bank of choice for many in Sri Lanka.