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CUP Inks Deal with National Australia Bank
(SinoCast China Financial Watch Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge) SHANGHAI, September 11, SinoCast -- Bankcards issued by China UnionPay Co, the only national bankcard association in the country, just marches into Australia representing a further step for CUP's globalization strategy. An agreement was signed by CUP and National Australia Bank on September 7. NAB's 1,300 ATMs have already accepted CUP cards and the POS system is to be adjusted over the next months with the hope to accept CUP cards by the year-end. NAB CEO Australia Ahmed Fahour said this development was a boon for 86,000 Australian merchants with over 100,000 NAB EFTPOS terminals as it would open their doors to a very rapidly- growing Chinese market. The agreement is bound to benefit Chinese students of about 81,000 but also visitors. Shanghai-based CUP estimates that the number of visitors is to rise around 20 percent each year in the next several years. The Sino-Australian alliance, which cost both sides several months to prepare, reflected CUP's strong desire to boost the presence at the international market which is dominated by its archrivals MasterCard International and VISA. Compared with the two, CUP has possessed innovative technologies in various sectors, like enlarging the card scope and offering more convenient services, told Dr Lin Caiyi, Chief Researcher at Strategy & Development of CUP. Moreover, it in the first half of the year has seen clients make as much as CNY 440 million of payments through cellphones based on their bankcards with CUP logo. More than three million clients have subscribed for the service. The Shanghai company in the future is to encourage more citizens to pay public utilities charges and small accounts rather than only bigger accounts with bankcards. It is expected to soon be the global third biggest player in terms of trading volume. As China's only integrated system for bankcard payments, CUP days ago just opened a representative office in Singapore, the first such one at an overseas market. It has also successfully tapped into Switzerland days ago, making cardholders in as many as 21 nations can withdraw cash and make electronic payments thanks to the alliance between CUP and a local partner Telekurs Multipay. Telekurs Multipay has the largest merchant network for the credit cards, debit cards and value cards in Switzerland. Till now, up to 40,000 holders can use CUP's cards at 56,000 POS and 285,000 ATMs around the world. About 26 nations are scheduled to receive the cards by the end of 2006, said Dr Lin Caiyi. The government-backed company has altogether 175 card issuers across China, with more than 900 million bank cards, most of which are debit cards, which are linked to savings accounts and require deposits, local reports said. It aims to provide bankcards to 95 percent of total citizens in the world's most populous nation. With CNY 1.6 billion registered capital, CUP was formed in March 2002 by 80-odd local financial institutions, including the state-owned Big Four banks, in order to boost the country's bankcard industry. The People's Bank of China, the central bank, pledged early this year to continue helping CUP to be the only renminbi transfer mechanism provider in the country for a rather long period. (USD 1 = CNY 7.9)
Copyright 2006 SinoCast LLC
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