UnionPay Links Chinese Payment Apps to Brazil's Pix Network in Cross-Border QR Pilot

UnionPay International and the Chinese Consulate General in Rio de Janeiro launched a pilot on August 4, 2026 letting users of the UnionPay app and linked Chinese bank apps pay by scanning QR codes at Brazilian merchants connected to the Pix instant-payment network, which serves roughly 15 million merchants. UnionPay said point-of-sale transactions on Chinese-mainland-issued cards in Brazil rose more than 30% year-on-year in H1 2026, driven partly by Brazil's May 2026 visa-free policy for Chinese citizens. The service is planned to expand to other UnionPay-linked digital wallets. The pilot is a concrete, bilateral step in the broader BRICS push toward interoperable local-currency payment rails (alongside BRICS Pay and the RBI's proposed CBDC bridge) ahead of the September 12-13 New Delhi summit.