China UnionPay and JD Finance 'shake hands' in payment innovation

China UnionPay, the national bankcard association, signed a strategic cooperation agreement with JD Finance on Wednesday, exploring opportunities for cooperation in various fields, including payment product innovation, big data analytics and rural finance.

Under the agreement, Chinabank Payments (Beijing) Technology Co Ltd, a payment subsidiary of JD Finance, the financial arm of Chinese e-commerce giant JD.com, will join a number of acquirers as a member of China UnionPay.

"The payment market grew rapidly with continuous upgrading of technologies. Both JD Finance and China Unionpay saw the potential of development of payment technologies… We'll cooperate and innovate in the areas such as payment, risk control and customer service to lower transaction costs for financial market participants and improve the efficiency of service," said Liu Qiangdong, founder and chief executive officer of JD.com.

The two companies will then launch payment innovation along with other financial institutions and step up risk control to prevent fraud through application of big data. They will also promote the development of rural e-commerce and financial inclusion and launch international market cooperation.