Thunes and UnionPay International Launch Instant Payouts to 79 Chinese Banks

Thunes and UnionPay International announced a deepened alliance on November 1, 2026, enabling instant cross-border payouts to UnionPay cards in China's mainland across 79 major Chinese banks, with a daily limit of up to $10,000 per recipient cardholder. PR Newswire published the announcement.

How the UnionPay Payout Connection Works

Thunes said the collaboration lets financial institutions, payment service providers and money transfer operators route instant cross-border consumer payouts to UnionPay cards in China's mainland. Key expansion corridors include Africa, Australia, Indonesia, New Zealand, Thailand and the USA. The direct connection reaches cardholders at 79 major Chinese banks, including Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, Agricultural Bank of China, Bank of China, China Construction Bank, Bank of Communications and China Merchants Bank.

Thunes said cross-border remittances into China's mainland have historically been constrained by low daily transaction caps, forcing senders to split larger personal transfers across multiple days or endure complex manual processing. By integrating UnionPay International's increased daily payment limit into its payout rails, Thunes said network members can now process real-time, compliant transfers of up to $10,000 per recipient cardholder. The collaboration connects Thunes' Direct Global Network to UnionPay International through a single API, so members gain high-capacity reach into China's card ecosystem without high setup costs, strict eligibility hurdles or ongoing technical maintenance.

Chloé Mayenobe, Deputy CEO at Thunes, said: "Strengthening our strategic alignment with UnionPay International marks a major evolution in how money moves globally. By enabling high-capacity, direct-to-card payouts into China's mainland, we are breaking down legacy barriers in one of the world's most dynamic payment corridors. Unlocking these higher transaction limits supports the growth of our Members, empowering financial institutions everywhere to scale their cross-border flows into China with unmatched speed and compliance."

Thunes' Network Scale Behind the Launch

According to akta.pro company records, Thunes' Direct Global Network spans 140 countries with 90 currencies, 220 payment methods and more than 720 network members. The same records show the network connects to over 12 billion financial endpoints, including bank accounts, mobile wallets and stablecoin wallets, and 15 billion cards. Thunes is headquartered in Singapore and was founded in 2016.

Earlier Thunes Payout Agreements

In October 2026, Coinbase announced a collaboration with Thunes to connect stablecoin infrastructure with local bank-account and mobile-wallet payouts, NewsBTC reported. Also in October 2026, Thunes expanded its Direct Global Network to Venezuela, enabling real-time transfers to bank accounts, wallets and cash pickup points, PR Newswire reported. In September 2026, Absa Group selected Thunes as a strategic Multicurrency Clearing partner to expand cross-border payments across Africa, PR Newswire reported.

UnionPay's Other Cross-Border Agreements

In October 2026, Visa and UnionPay International announced an agreement to enable cross-border money movement into Chinese Mainland through Visa Direct, AETOSWire reported. TBCASoft and UnionPay also announced that Bank of China (Hong Kong), Shinhan Bank, Hong Leong Bank and Khan Bank will join the UPI-HIVEX network-to-network arrangement, enabling inbound cross-border QR payments in Japan, Globalfintechseries reported.