Something I found of interest is Unionpay issuers in the Uk and in Western countries in general. They appear to be scarce, far apart and not last very long.
The past issuers were STICPAY, Amon tech (shutdown) and MyGuava (which is currently in liquidation) all of them haven’t lasted for very long. Another one was Volet but they claim to have stopped issuing them due to UP changing their policies. There was also a fintech in the US called Ecard who stopped issuing them possibly due to the same reasons.
Current issuers are:
Pecunpay/Yi An: https://www.yianpay.es/
Spanish fintech company that issues Unionpay debit card across the SEPA zone including the Uk. However it appears to be abandoned and I wouldn’t be surpised if it also gets shutdown soon.
HSBC HK also provides an ATM card that is a Unionpay. An HSBC HK account can be easily opened via the app by Uk residents as well as residents of other countries listed on their website How to Open a Hong Kong Account | International - HSBC HK .
ICBC / BOC branches in the US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand and many other countries, also issue them but are primarily aimed at Chinese students/expats and the diaspora in those countries. ICBC also issued them in the Uk but have exited all retailing banking operations in the Uk in 2024.
It does however seem that UnionPay international (the international subsidiary of China UnionPay) has been striving to improvement UP acceptance globally so we may see more issuers in the UK/EU in the future.
Bit indirect, but I wonder if SBI UK would let you open SBI India and get the JCB card that way?
Odd that they’re retreating like that.
For your next task: Discover cards PayZ used to do them and given that Capital One bought them, I suspect that they’ll be turning up around the world in due course.
In terms of SBI, I don’t know, I’d assume you need some sort of residency to open an India domiciled account. I know there is one bank in India, Canara bank, that opened accounts for Russian tourists, only in Goa (a popular tourist destination). They however don’t seem to offer JCB, only RuPay and Visa.
Regarding Discover cards issued outside the US, they were previosuly issued in Ecaudor and Russia. I have heard of PayZ but didn’t know they stopped issuing Discover.
Please be informed we are no longer supporting Payz Diners Club cards, however, Payz Mastercards are further available for Payz customer in the UK.
Please feel free to contact us should you require any further assistance.
Best regards,
The Payz Team
Interestingly, Unionpay and Discover have an interoperability agreement. For example you can pay with Unionpay in the US wherever Discover is accepted (although this varies in practice). Similarly in Australia, Unionpay is accepted in a lot of place due to a large number of Chinese tourists and therefore Discover is accepted as well.
As with Discover, I suspect that Unionpay is accepted in more places than you’d think. The Discover cards was taken in the major supermarkets and even corner shops. The only ATM that took it was one of the corner shop ones. Potential plus with Discover/Diners is the lounge access (charged) and the airport WiFi.
On the Unionpay front, do those cards work where Mastercard/Visa are blocked due to American connections? Thinking the likes of Russia, Cuba, etc. Also guessing that acceptance would be better in Asian countries.
Visa/Mastercard work in Cuba, only American issued ones do not work there.
In terms of Russia, Unionpay cancelled their agreements with most Russian banks and only 2 still issue them. The UP cards of Russian agricultural bank (one of those 2) were blocked in the EU from July 2025 and don’t work in the Uk/Us/Japan and other places too. The other one is Asia-Pacific bank but it too has been blocked in some places though still works in the Uk/Eu.
Foreign Unionpay cards only work at ATM’s or POS machines of a small handful of non-sanctioned banks. It also depends if the issuing bank hasn’t blocked them from working there as is the case quite commonly.
PayZ used to do them and given that Capital One bought them, I suspect that they’ll be turning up around the world in due course.
. Shame they don’t do Diners Club/Discover anymore.