[Photo] BC Card signed a contract on Oct. 30 to sell part of its subsidiary Smartro at the headquarters of China Union Pay Mercants Service (UMS) in Shanghai, China, to strengthen cooperative relations. Pictures of Lee Mun Hwan, president of BC Card (left), Wang Yan Fang, chairman of UMS (center), and Lee Hong Jae, CEO of Smartro

BC Card (President Lee Mun Hwan) has entered into an agreement with China Unionpay Merchant Services (the 'UMS') to sell part of its subsidiary Smartro (CEO Lee Hong Jae) with the aim of strengthening the partnership.

UMS is a subsidiary of the China UnionPay (CUP: China UnionPay), a Chinese banking card association, and has topped the list of card Acquire Rankings in the Asia-Pacific region for six years in a row in 2018 released by the Nielsen Report. At the same time, the company is engaged in various businesses in areas such as PG (payment gateway) business and big data services, marketing services, payment-innovation-added services, and so on.

The signing ceremony, which took place at UMS headquarters in Shanghai, China, on Oct. 30, was attended by BC Card President Lee Mun Hwan, BC Card Vice President Shin Gwang Seok, Smartro President Lee Hong Jae and UMS Chairman.

The contract is the first successful case of attracting foreign capital since BC Card was launched. UMS became an investor in Smartro by acquiring 20 percent of its total shares, including part of the Smartro old shares held by BC Card and new shares through the third-party allocation method.

Unionpay, the parent company of UMS, has been a partner with BC Card since 2004 and has been working actively to establish an environment for using Unionpay cards between Korea and China. It is expected that this equity deal will further strengthen the cooperative relationship between the two companies and push for closer partnership projects.

BC Card and Smartro plan to introduce more convenient payment services to local customers by cooperating with UMS, which is active in spreading new payment platforms such as QR code payment in China.

Through this contract, Smartro is planning to strengthen 'VAN (Value-Added-Network) and PG business system upgrade', 'Merchants infrastructure service differentiation' and 'joint new business development'.

The collaboration between BC Card and UMS is also expected to be a big boost for Merchants in Korea.

The "integrated terminal", which will be introduced by cooperation between UMS and Smartro, can accept various types of payment such as IC chips, QR codes and NFC. It is also expected that merchants will be able to significantly reduce the cost burden as it will be released at a lower price than the existing terminal.

"We expect the signing to bring mobile payment technology and know-how, which are activated in China, to Korea to provide more convenient digital payment services to customers and raise the level of Merchant services to the next level," BC Card President Lee Mun Hwan said.

He then said that the company will continue to make efforts to maintain its continued partnership with UMS, a major shareholder of Smartro, and to help BC Card lead the Asian payment market through the introduction of new technologies and partnerships.

Meanwhile, Smartro is a financial-telecommunications affiliate of KT Group, with BC Card and Initech as major shareholders.