The alliance
Thunes has widened its strategic alliance with UnionPay International to carry instant cross-border consumer payouts to UnionPay cards in mainland China, the company said. Financial institutions, payment service providers and money transfer operators are the intended users of the route.
The limit and the reach
Member firms can send up to $10,000 per recipient cardholder per day, the release stated. The connection reaches cardholders at 79 major Chinese banks, among them ICBC, Agricultural Bank of China, Bank of China, China Construction Bank, Bank of Communications and China Merchants Bank. The higher limit is meant to let senders move larger sums in a single daily transaction rather than splitting them over several days or handling them manually.
Where the senders are
Thunes named Africa, Australia, Indonesia, New Zealand, Thailand and the United States as key expansion corridors. Members reach UnionPay International through one API on Thunes' Direct Global Network, which the company said avoids high setup costs, strict eligibility hurdles and ongoing technical maintenance.
The company's case
Chloe Mayenobe, deputy chief executive at Thunes, said the alignment changes how money moves globally and that direct-to-card payouts remove longstanding barriers in the China corridor. She said the higher transaction limits are intended to let financial institutions scale their cross-border flows into China.