Société Générale and UnionPay International have signed an agreement to permit the acceptance of UnionPay card at Société Générale merchants in France and Monaco.
This new agreement reinforces the cooperation between the two groups since March 2010, when Société Générale opened its 4,600 ATMs to UnionPay cards.
The merchants, clients of Société Générale, in France and in Monaco, frequented by Asian tourists, will be able to propose to their clients to pay with their UnionPay card.
The Chinese tourists in France represent a client category with strong purchasing power. They are more and more used to coming to visit France, especially in touristic areas like Paris, Loire Valley, Côte d'Azur, Bordeaux region.... In 2014, the number of Chinese tourists may reach 2 Millions, and will increase continuously in coming years. The merchants frequently visited by Asian clients are hotels, luxurious brands shops, wine and liquor shops.
For UnionPay International, it's also very important to get access to the big merchant network of Société Générale so that UnionPay cardholders could pay with their card at the targeted merchants in touristic areas.