China UnionPay, the country’s bank card payment system, has announced a collaboration with Intel on secure mobile payments. The partners are using a number of technologies including Intel’s own identity protection system, they said.

The alliance was announced by Doug Fisher, vice president and general manager of Intel’s System Software Division, during a keynote at the chip vendor’s developer event in Beijing.

Hongfeng Chai, executive vice president of China UnionPay, joined Fisher to demonstrate the QuickPass service which enables Chinese subscribers to make mobile payments with their NFC smartphones.

China Unionpay has emerged as a key player in the country’s nascent mobile payments market. The firm is working with domestic operators, including China Mobile and China Unicom, as well as leading handset vendors ZTE and HTC.