It was announced that China's Cross-border Interconnection Gateway (CPG) had officially begun trial operation in late July. UnionPay International contributed to developing the CPG's core elements over a six-month period. Guided by public-oriented inclusivity and accessibility, the CPG enables institutions in and outside China's mainland to achieve cross-border QR code interoperability with one point access. Providing services such as unified technical interfaces, switching and distribution of cross-border transaction information, and real-time transaction monitoring and analysis, CPG supports participating players in making cross-border QR code payments more efficient, convenient, and secure for users throughout the world.

The pilot launch of CPG offers easy access for both Chinese and international partners. Institutions in the Chinese mainland can complete integration directly using UnionPay's standardized interfaces, while overseas partners can connect to CPG through UnionPay International. This arrangement not only facilitates cross-border QR code payments between China's mainland and the rest of the world, but also enables local QR code payments in markets outside China's mainland as well as cross-border QR code payments between such markets.

CPG onboarding with one point access through UnionPay brings four advantages to partners when they implement cross-border QR code linkages. First, it reduces system integration costs and resource waste from repeated system changes. Second, it promotes unified standards for cooperation with overseas wallet providers, delivers higher efficiency and better experience to them when they access China's payment market, and fosters fair competition and healthy development in the global cross-border QR code payment ecosystem. Third, overseas wallets can have broader acceptance coverage in the Chinese mainland. Beyond UnionPay's network, WeChat Pay QR code merchants in the mainland will also be able to accept payments from these wallets. Fourth, CPG uses a unified information interface for both the inbound payments of overseas wallets and the outbound transactions of Chinese wallets, enabling the centralized management of cross-border QR code payments. This will support participating institutions in delivering more secure and reliable services to global users.

Through collaboration with UnionPay, overseas wallet operators can unlock value in two aspects. On one hand, they can offer mobile payment capabilities in more use cases with UnionPay's integrated wallet payment solution supporting OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) Pay, QR code payments, and in-app payments. They can also tap into UnionPay's global partnership network. On the other hand, they can leverage UnionPay card benefits and use case-based value-added services to boost user engagement.