UnionPay International (UPI) continues to expand the acceptance network by signing strategic partnership agreements with key stakeholders in the payments industry across Africa.

UPI has signed an agreement with the national switch of Mauritania GIMTEL (Groupement Interbancaire de Monétique et des Transactions Electroniques). This agreement paves the way for GIMTEL to become an UPI acquirer and processing service provider to financial institutions in the country. This means that all merchants in the country will accept payments made with UnionPay cards on their POS terminals in the future, further stimulating commerce and ultimately the economy of Mauritania.

Amar Yacoub, General Manager of GIMTEL to say: “We are very pleased with this new agreement which will certainly enable us to widely expand our acceptance network and subsequently to speed up the development of electronic payment in Mauritania.”

With a dedicated team and market representatives for the African countries, UPI relies on its secure and convenient products and services to offer the African markets the most suitable solutions for their own unique requirements.

As such UPI is making a rapid progress by extending its network of partners and gives to the financial institutions an opportunity to reach billions of cardholders around the world. UnionPay cards are now accepted in 48 African countries and regions. In Mauritius, all merchants and 90% of ATMs accept UnionPay; and in Morocco, UnionPay cards are accepted on 100% of the local POS terminals. UnionPay’s merchant acceptance in South Africa and Kenya is 80% and 50% respectively. Meanwhile, various UnionPay card products have been issued in 6 African countries.

According to the Nilson Report 2016, by the end of 2015, UnionPay is the world’s largest bankcard associations with more than 5.3 billion cards issued, which represented 53.1% of the total number of cards issued in the world.