According to http://www.rbrlondon.com/">Retail Banking Research, the Chinese payment system UnionPay assumed the leadership by quantity of plastic cards in circulation in 2010, beating the Plastics Queen Visa. There were 8 billion payment cards in global circulation last year, and 29, 2% of it was issued under China UnionPay’s brand.
China UnionPay cards (CUP) circulate on the Russian market since 2007. The first issue of these cards was realized jointly by Evrofinance Mosnarbank and Russian payment system Union Card.
Appreciating the Bank’s potential and authority, since the start of this project China UnionPay granted Evrofinance Mosnarbank the Principal Member status which allows maintaining cards as well as issuing it. Thereby Evrofinance Mosnarbank became the first bank in Russia as well as in Europe to issue China UnionPay cards.