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| CUP Signs Cooperation Agreement with UK LINK |
| 2008-09-19 |
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On Sept. 19th in London, China Unionpay (CUP) officially signed a cooperation agreement with LINK, the largest ATM operator in UK. CUP cards will realize money-drawing services on ATMs in UK in the near future. Liu Tinghuan, Chairman of CUP, and Marion King, CEO of VocaLink under LINK jointly attended the signing ceremony.
As the first British financial institution to establish partner relationship with CUP, LINK owns 51 membership banks and a sole nationwide ATM Transfer System, and deploys over 60 thousand ATMs across UK, accounting for over 99% of the total number of ATMs in UK.
Through the close cooperation between CUP and LINK, almost all ATMs in UK will accept CUP cards in the near future and provide pound-drawing services for CUP cardholders.
Liu Tinghuan, Chairman of CUP, said that, in order to comply with national social and economic development and the strategic demand of “going global”, and also to meet people’s increasing need of card payment when doing business, travelling and studying abroad, CUP is constantly accelerating its internationalization process, actively exploring international acceptance and handling network, endeavoring to realize the objective that “where there are Chinese, there are CUP cards.” Meanwhile, through international acceptance and handling network of CUP cards, CUP is branching out the services of various Chinese commercial banks into other countries and regions. As UK is a major destination both for Chinese tourists and Chinese students, CUP attaches great importance to the UK market. To sign a cooperation agreement with LINK is CUP’s another important step on the road of internationalization development.
It is estimated that the number of Chinese tourists visiting UK amounted to 144,000 in 2007. With the advent of 2012 London Olympic Games, more Chinese citizens are expected to visit UK in the following several years. In addition, nearly 100,000 Chinese students are now studying in the UK.
Marion King, CEO of VocaLink under LINK , said that she was pleased to establish the cooperative relationship with CUP, which is not only of strategic significance to LINK, but also consistent with LINK’s development plan. The increasing number of Chinese tourists and students coming to the UK will bring considerable card swiping transaction amounts.
At present, the establishment of International Acceptance and Handling Network of CUP cards has basically taken shape. CUP cardholders can not only draw money on ATMs in 50 countries And regions but also swipe the cards for purchase on merchant POS terminals in 27 countries And regions outside China. In addition, CUP is actively promoting the issuance of CUP standard cards abroad to provide convenient payment services for foreigners working, travelling and studying in China. So far, more than 40 financial institutions in 8 countries and regions have formally issued CUP standard cards outside China. |
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