For Myanmar’s first generation of bank customers, there is little difference between a Visa card and one from China’s state-controlled card-payment monopoly, UnionPay.

对缅甸的第一代银行客户而言，一张Visa卡与一张银联卡几乎没什么区别，后者由中国国有控股的银行卡支付垄断企业中国银联(UnionPay)发行。

With only 2 per cent of the Southeast Asian nation’s 53m people carrying plastic in their wallets, UnionPay’s rapid push into the frontier market will make its red, blue and green logo one of the first that Burmese youth see when opening an account or applying for a credit card at a local bank.

在这个人口5300万的东南亚国家，只有2%的人钱包里有银行卡，中国银联在这一前沿市场的快速推进，将使其红、蓝、绿三色标识成为在当地银行开户或申请信用卡的缅甸年轻人首先看到的公司标识之一。

Myanmar is ground zero for the group’s attempt to steal global market share from companies such as Visa and MasterCard. The same goes for countries such as Indonesia, Malaysia, Kazakhstan and even the Democratic Republic of Congo — all spots where local banks have started issuing the Chinese company’s cards to an increasing cohort of non-Chinese customers.

缅甸是中国银联尝试从Visa、万事达(MasterCard)等信用卡公司手中争夺全球市场份额的起点。中国银联同时进军的国家还包括印度尼西亚、马来西亚、哈萨克斯坦，甚至刚果民主共和国——在这些国家，当地银行已经开始向越来越多的非中国籍客户发放银联卡。

“For many people in emerging markets, this will be the first card they come in contact with,” said Neil Katkov, senior vice-president at finance consultant¹ Celent in Tokyo. “That’s a big shift from when Visa and MasterCard were the only game in town.”

“对新兴市场的许多人来说，这将是他们接触的第一张卡，”金融咨询公司Celent在东京的高级副总裁内尔?卡特科夫(Neil Katkov)表示，“相比那个只有Visa和万事达两家的时代，这是一个巨大转变。”

In just 15 years, UnionPay has become the largest bank cards group in the world by value of card transactions, taking a 37 per cent chunk² of the $21.6tn global payments market in 2015, according to a report from London-based payments consultant RBR.

总部位于伦敦的支付咨询机构RBR的一份报告显示，按卡交易价值计算，中国银联在短短15年间已成长为全球最大银行卡组织，在2015年全球21.6万亿美元的支付市场中占比高达37%。

But the company’s grip on the market is based almost entirely³ on China, where its status as a de facto monopoly has drawn⁴ the country into a years-long clash with the World Trade Organisation⁵.

但中国银联的市场份额几乎完全是在中国境内，该公司在本国事实上的垄断地位使得中国与世界贸易组织(WTO)多年陷于冲突。

Excluding its business in China, UnionPay claims just 0.5 per cent of the global market, compared with Visa’s 50 per cent and MasterCard’s 31 per cent.

扣除在中国的业务，中国银联在全球市场仅占0.5%，相比之下，Visa和万事达分别占50%和31%。

Experts watching the group say it has a clear government mandate⁶ to take on Visa and MasterCard outside China.

关注银联的专家表示，银联明显是接到了中国政府的授意，要在中国境外与Visa和万事达进行角逐。

“This is an effort to expand China’s financial influence globally,” said Simon Lee, an assistant dean at the Chinese University of Hong Kong Business School. “The recognition of Chinese brands, especially in finance, is very low abroad. Companies like this are trying to change that.”

“此举是在全球扩大中国金融影响力的努力，”香港中文大学(Chinese University of Hong Kong)商学院助理院长李兆波(Simon Lee)说，“国外对中国品牌的认可度很低，特别是在金融领域。银联等公司正试图改变这种状况。”

UnionPay declined to comment and MasterCard would not discuss the Chinese rival’s strategy. Visa did not respond to a request for comment on the matter.

银联拒绝置评，万事达不愿讨论这家中国对手的战略。Visa未回应有关此事的置评请求。

UnionPay’s first rollout into global markets saw it chasing after newly rich Chinese tourists armed for the first time with credit cards. Luxury shops in Europe such as Louis Vuitton and Burberry were among the first merchants to accept the cards in western countries, hoping to attract the burgeoning⁷ wealth of independent Chinese travellers.

在对全球市场的第一轮扩张中，银联追随那些身上首次带着信用卡、新近富裕起来的中国游客的脚步。路易威登(Louis Vuitton)和博柏利(Burberry)等欧洲奢侈品店是西方国家中首批接受这种信用卡的商家，它们希望把中国独立游客迅速增长的财富吸引过来。

The group’s payment terminals are now ubiquitous and more than 41m merchants in 160 countries accept the cards, the company says, making it one of the most widely accepted payment providers.

银联表示，如今该集团的支付终端随处可见，160个国家逾4100万商家接受这种信用卡，令银联成为获得最广泛接受的支付提供商之一。

Since launching UnionPay in 2002 with a consortium of state-owned banks, China’s central bank has blocked the domestic expansion of Visa and MasterCard and granted the Chinese company free rein⁸ over one of the world’s largest payments markets.

自2002年批准由多家国有银行联手成立银联以来，中国央行阻止了Visa和万事达在境内的扩张，实际上让银联独享世界最大支付市场之一。

In 2012, the World Trade Organisation ruled that China had unfairly discriminated⁹ against foreign payment companies, a major victory for the US, which brought the complaint. Since then, Chinese regulators have dragged their feet on opening the market, only recently announcing they would allow foreign players to establish their own payment clearing businesses this year.

2012年，世贸组织曾裁定中国不公平地歧视境外支付企业，这是提出申诉的美国的重大胜利。自那以来，中国监管机构在开放市场方面行动迟缓，直到最近才宣布今年会允许外国竞争者建立自己的支付结算业务。

“Increasingly, China UnionPay is competing on a global scale. They will need to play along with the global rules,” said Alfred Shang, a financial services partner at Bain & Co in Beijing, who has advised multinational¹⁰ payment companies on their China strategy. “They are trying to strike reciprocal rules with other payment networks around the world, so they need to be seen as playing by the rules.”

贝恩公司(Bain & Co)在北京的金融服务业合伙人、曾为跨国支付企业提供中国战略方面的咨询的项安达(Alfred Shang)表示：“中国银联正越来越多地在全球层面开展竞争。他们将需要尊重全球的游戏规则。他们正试图与全球其他支付网络达成互惠规则，因此他们需要被视为遵守游戏规则。”

UnionPay’s global ambitions are not restricted to developing countries such as Myanmar.

中国银联的全球雄心并不限于缅甸等发展中国家。

In a span of just five years, the company says more than 68m UnionPay cards have been issued in 40 different foreign countries, including advanced economies such as Singapore and Japan. In Russia, UnionPay is tipped to link up directly with the country’s payments system as the authorities seek ways to reduce the impact of possible future western sanctions.

中国银联表示，在短短五年里，该公司在40个境外国家发行逾6800万张银联卡，其中包括新加坡和日本等发达经济体。在俄罗斯，由于当局正在想办法降低西方未来可能制裁的影响，中国银联据悉与该国支付系统直接联通。

Despite enjoying the direct backing of the Chinese government and the luxury of a captive home market, UnionPay’s global battle will not be won easily.

尽管得到了中国政府直接支持，迄今又基本上独享本土市场，但中国银联的全球竞争不会赢得太容易。

New technology and the availability of better data are changing how the global payments market operates, and new entrants such as UnionPay will have to provide something new in terms of pricing, service, technology or scale, Mr Shang said.

项安达表示，新技术和可获得数据质量的改善正在改变全球支付市场的运营方式，银联之类的新入场者将不得不在定价、服务、技术或规模方面提供一些新的东西。

“UnionPay’s global expansion comes at a time when the entire market is ripe for disruption, so they need to consider their business model carefully,” Mr Shang said. “If they just play a ‘me-too strategy’ with Visa and MasterCard, there’s really no point.”

项安达表示：“银联的全球扩张正赶上整个市场重新洗牌时机成熟之际，因此他们需要仔细考虑自己的商业模式。如果他们只是与Visa和万事达玩‘我也能做到’这种战略，那真的没什么意义。”