Established in March 2002, UnionPay is a bankcard association established under the approval of the State Council and the People’s Bank of China. At present, the Shanghai-headquartered UnionPay has about 400 domestic and overseas associate members. UnionPay has become the central and pivotal part of China’s bankcard industry, and plays an essential role in the industry development. As the bankcard association in China, UnionPay operates an inter-bank transaction settlement system through which the connection and switch between banking systems and the inter-bank, cross-region and cross-border usages of bankcards issued by associate banks could be realized.