Co-badged Arca UnionPay cards are now available at Converse Bank

ArmInfo. The project to issue Arca UnionPay co-badged cards has officially been launched in Armenia as part of cooperation between the national payment systems of Armenia and China - Armenian Card (Arca) and UnionPay International (UPI).

Convers Bank is one of the first in Armenia to offer its cardholders the opportunity to obtain an Arca UnionPay co-badged card with the capabilities of both systems - local and international. This is noted in a statement by Convers Bank.

A ceremony dedicated to the launch of Arca UnionPay card issuance was held on September 17. Representatives of the Central Bank of the Republic of Armenia, the national payment system Armenian Card, the UnionPay International payment system, the Embassy of China in the Republic of Armenia, as well as representatives of the financial sector, took part in the event.

Grant Hakobyan, Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board of Directors of Convers Bank, noted: "For our Bank, joining this initiative among the first was a natural step. We are consistently implementing new technologies and financial solutions, and this cooperation is a continuation of this approach. I consider the issuance of Arca UnionPay cards by Convers Bank particularly important in two respects. The first is the additional value created for our clients. Whereas previously the use of an Arca card was mainly limited to Armenia's payment infrastructure, a co-badged card makes it possible to conduct transactions in the international UnionPay network as well, using the advantages of both systems. The second important area is the international integration of Armenia's national payment system. Thanks to the cooperation between Arca and UnionPay, it is connected to a broad international network, expanding access opportunities for Armenian banks and their clients".

According to Arca Director Vardan Khachatryan: "This project is unprecedented not only for Arca, but also for Armenia's entire payment and settlement ecosystem. As a result of cooperation between the two national payment systems - Arca and UnionPay - Armenian banks are receiving the opportunity for the first time to issue a joint card, whose servicing within Armenia is carried out according to Arca's rules, and outside the country - within the UnionPay acceptance network. This is only the first stage of cooperation: other solutions are also planned, including in the area of fast money transfers".

Xiang Yu, Deputy General Manager of the Business Development Department of UnionPay International, emphasized: "Cooperation with Arca is an important step toward expanding UnionPay's presence and closer integration with Armenia's payment market. By launching a joint card, we are combining Arca's local expertise and infrastructure with UnionPay's international network, giving cardholders from Armenia access to our services in different countries around the world. We highly value our cooperation with Arca, Convers Bank and other partners that have joined the project, and are confident that this marks the beginning of new opportunities for a long-term partnership".

It should be noted that cards of the foreign payment system UnionPay International (UPI) began to be issued and serviced by three Armenian banks two years ago - Acba Bank and Convers Bank (since May 2024) and Evocabank (since September 2024). In total, from May 2024 to April 2026, Armenia already had 339 UPI cards. These three banks simultaneously issue and service both local cards and international Visa and Mastercard cards. Of these three banks, Evocabank was the first to begin issuing Arca UPI co-badged cards - Arca UnionPay Co-badge (since September 2026), and now co-badged cards have also become available at Convers Bank - Arca UnionPay.

Let us recall that in November 2025, the Armenian Card national payment system signed a memorandum of understanding with the international payment systems Mastercard and UPI, providing for the issuance in 2026 of Arca co-badged cards that could also be used abroad. As we can see, in accordance with the plans, the issuance of co-badged cards began in the second half of 2026, with ArCa UPI being offered first. At present, along with work on tokenizing ArCa in Google Pay and Apple Pay services, a process has also been initiated to replace digital chips on local cards (including co-badged cards). This is necessary to ensure the full reachability of ArCa cards (including co-badged cards) in international services, i.e. token payments through Google Pay and Apple Pay.