UnionPay International, a subsidiary of China UnionPay that has enabled card acceptance in 160 countries and regions, recently has issued guidelines to regulate overseas insurance transactions by cards issued from Chinese mainland.

According to the Guidelines, UnionPay cards issued from mainland can be used to buy pure insurance products, including accidents, deaths, and illnesses.

However, they are not allowed to purchase any insurance products that involve investment-related content, such as life insurance. Under this policy, single transactions of UnionPay cards issued from mainland at overseas insurance merchants are capped at the equivalent of 5,000 US dollars.

According to statistics released in August, the insurance fees paid by mainland visitors amounted to nearly 4 billion dollars during the first half of 2016, a surge by almost 120 percent.

UnionPay has re-emphasized the relevant regulations and business rules to ensure the delivery of safe and compliant transactions in the payment system.