In alignment with its strategic roadmap and unwavering commitment to advancing customer experiences while bolstering payment acceptance capabilities in the market, Sri Lanka’s leading private sector bank HNB PLC announced the successful launch of UnionPay International (UPI) acceptance for e-commerce transactions.
This strategic collaboration is particularly timely, given the burgeoning growth within the tourism sector and the expansive card base of UnionPay. The resultant partnership not only marks a significant milestone but also presents a substantial opportunity for HNB merchants to tap into a new and diverse customer base, thereby augmenting the bank’s market presence.
Enhanced by the bank’s cutting-edge payment gateway services, this initiative ensures that merchants’ technical requirements are comprehensively met, facilitating the seamless processing of UPI transactions. This strategic move underscores HNB’s continuous commitment to innovation, customer-centricity and its positioning as a leader in the evolving landscape of financial services.
HNB Deputy General Manager Retail Banking Group Sanjay Wijemanne expressed, “HNB always strives to remain steadfast in its commitment to enhancing business organisations through innovative and diverse modes of payment acceptance. The successful launch of e-commerce UnionPay International transactions, complemented by the bank’s technologically sophisticated tools, signifies a strategic step towards realising the bank’s vision within this competitive market landscape.”
Head of UnionPay International South Asia, Hu Binghan, said, “The successful collaboration between HNB and UnionPay International (UPI) highlighted the effective provision of acquiring services across all HNB point of sale (POS) platforms. Acknowledging the evolving landscape of digital payments, we noticed that there has been a substantial increase in transaction volumes over the preceding years and accordingly, our primary goal became to address the growing demand for digital transactions, thereby actively contributing to enhancing HNB’s presence in the e-commerce market. The strategic focus lies in meeting consumer needs while bolstering the bank’s competitiveness in the dynamic financial environment.”
Evan Lau, CEO of Bancstac, added, "We congratulate HNB and UPI. We are proud to have successfully enabled the world’s largest card scheme, UnionPay International, for one of the country’s major merchant acquiring banks, Hatton National Bank. In partnership with Bancstac, the bank’s customers can now accept secure online payments from 7 billion issued UnionPay debit, credit and pre-paid charge cards issued across 82 countries in addition to American Express, Visa, Mastercard, Discover Network and Diners Club. Our commitment extends to assisting all the bank’s clients, including those with complex, sector-specific integration requirements. We look forward to continuing our strong collaboration with HNB to deliver innovative technology solutions for the bank and its valued customers."
About Hatton National Bank
With 255 customer centres and 800+ Smart Self-Service Machines (SSMs) nationwide, HNB is one of Sri Lanka’s largest, most technologically innovative private banks. Consolidating its legacy in sustainability, good governance and corporate excellence, HNB was crowned the Best Corporate Citizen for 2022 at the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce Best Corporate Citizen Awards.
Additionally, HNB was ranked among the World’s Top 1,000 Banks list compiled by the prestigious UK-based Banker Magazine for the sixth consecutive year in 2022, in addition to being crowned the Best Retail Bank in Sri Lanka for the 13th occasion at the prestigious International Excellence in Retail Financial Services Awards 2023 hosted by the Asian Banker Magazine.
About UnionPay International
UnionPay International is a subsidiary of China UnionPay focused on the growth and support of UnionPay’s global business. UnionPay is the world’s largest card network with more than 7 billion cards issued. In partnership with more than 2,600 institutions worldwide, UnionPay International has enabled card acceptance in 183 countries and regions with issuance in more than 82 countries and regions. UnionPay International provides high quality, cost effective and secure cross-border payment services to the world’s largest cardholder base, and ensures convenient local services to a growing number of global UnionPay cardholders and merchants.
About Bancstac
Bancstac is a core technology infrastructure partner and payment innovation company to banks and their clients, enabling seamless adoption and customization of digital payment and acceptance capabilities from closed-loop payment networks, real-time settlement systems, mobile digital wallets, and global card schemes. Through its advanced payment technology orchestration platform, Bancstac strives to foster trust among individuals and make it simpler for businesses to participate in global commerce. Bancstac is a global strategic technology partner to the world’s largest card scheme, UnionPay International, providing banks with direct endpoint connectivity to the UPI network and anti-fraud 3DS 2.0 MPI services. Bancstac is a payment aggregator for American Express, Discover Network and Diners Club. It is also a PCI DSS Level 1 and PCI 3DS certified payment processor, payment gateway, payment aggregator, and payment orchestration platform.
