China’s UPI card holders can now transact with Barclays Seychelles |20 May 2017

Barclays Bank of Seychelles has partnered with China’s largest global payment network, Union Pay International (UPI), to accept the use of that card at its ATMs and Point of Sale (POS) machines across the country.

It was Johannes Van Schalkwyk, the managing director of Barclays Bank Seychelles, who made this announcement at a ceremony on Thursday afternoon at the Eden Bleu Hotel on Eden Island in the presence of the ambassador of the People’s Republic of China to Seychelles, Yu Jinsong and staff of the bank.

Speaking at the ceremony, Mr Schalkwyk said Seychelles established bilateral relations with China back in 1976 and since then the two countries have enjoyed very good relations.

“Chinese visitors to our shores have increased significantly and in the past two years about 14,549 of them visited our shores which contributed to about 11% to the total of visitor arrivals to the country,” he said.

“Today I proudly stand before you and align myself with China Union Pay International card. These visitors want to pay with their card of choice wherever they go, and Barclays Seychelles caters to that need,” he said.

Ambassador Yu said the UPI is a card widely used in China and in the world.

“This decision to introduce such a card here in Seychelles is a good one for the Chinese community living here and those visiting the country,” she said, congratulating Barclays Seychelles for this initiative.

The ceremony included a demonstration of a transaction using the UPI card on a Barclays Seychelles machine, which went without a hitch.