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| CUP and BOC Join Hands in Issuing High-end Credit Cards in Singapore |
| 2008-10-09 |
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On Oct. 9th, 2008, China Unionpay (CUP) and Bank of China (BOC) jointly held an issuance ceremony of CUP Standard Great Wall Platinum Card in Singapore and signed an agreement on strengthening international business cooperation. Xu Luode, President of CUP, and Yueyi, member of the Executive Committee of BOC Head Office jointly attended the ceremony and signed the agreement.
According to the agreement, the two parties will conduct closer comprehensive cooperation in international business of CUP cards, including information sharing, card issuance, acquiring, remission, liquidation, value-added services of overseas bankcards, innovation, etc. This is another all-dimensional systematic cooperation after the signing of the strategic cooperation agreement between the two parties in 2005, and is a further deepening of bilateral strategic cooperation in international business.
The middle-and-short-term objective of this bilateral strategic cooperation in international business is to integrate the resources of both parties, research, develop and promote competitive products with Chinese advantages, explore card issuance business among clients doing business, travelling and studying in China, push forward the issuance and use of CUP independent brand bankcards. The long-term objective is to enhance the technical level and improve service quality, thus promoting the issuance of China’s independent brand bankcards to become the renowned brands worldwide.
Xu Luode, President of CUP, pointed out that to establish international acceptance and handling network of CUP cards, create independent brands for Chinese bankcards, explore overseas business services for organizations with Chinese investment, meet China’s fast economic development and people’s demand of” going global” are not only the due social responsibilities to be shouldered by CUP, but also the internal requirements for the self-development of CUP. Recognized as a paradigm for Chinese-invested banks in terms of internationalization, BOC positively adapts itself to the changes of times and market, and stand at the forefront in the banking sector. The signing of the cooperation agreement brings bilateral cooperation to a new high, which plays a promotional role not only in making CUP cards an international independent bankcard brand, but also in building BOC into a first-class bank in the world.
Yueyi, member of the Executive Committee of BOC Head Office, said that CUP had maintained a sound relationship of strategic cooperation with BOC for a long time. In 2005, CUP chose BOC as its first partner to sign a comprehensive strategic cooperation agreement and took the lead in issuing CUP standard credit cards in China. To this day, based on the common objective of jointly building an independent brand, BOC will fully support CUP’s deployment of international development, give play to the advantage of BOC’s overseas branch network, conduct in-depth cooperation with CUP in such areas as card issuance, acquiring, and capital liquidation, and jointly build “CUP” payment brand.
In recent years, CUP and BOC have been all along actively promoting the internationalization strategy. To realize the objective that “where there are Chinese, there are CUP cards”, CUP is actively exploring international acceptance and handling network and constantly branching out the services of various Chinese commercial banks into other countries and regions. Up till now, CUP cards can be used to draw money on ATMs in nearly 50 countries and regions and be swiped for purchase on Merchants’ POS terminals in 27 countries and regions outside China. In addition, BOC has joint hands with more than 40 financial institutions in 8 countries and regions to formally issue CUP standard cards outside China.
As the most internationalized bank in China, BOC has a branch network covering 28 countries and regions around the world. BOC is also the first bank to issue credit cards within the Chinese territory.
This time, CUP Standard Great Wall Platinum Card jointly launched by the two parties will be issued in Singapore and settled in Singapore dollars. With the help of CUP network, the card can not only be swiped for purchase in nearly ten thousand merchants and POS terminals in Singapore, but also be used at 930,000 CUP network merchants, 145 network POS terminals and 140,000 network ATMs within the territory of China. Besides Singapore and China, the card can also be used in other countries and regions opening acceptance and handling services of CUP cards. Meanwhile, the cardholders can enjoy special favorable prices when swiping cards for a purchase at over 17,000 favorable merchants designated by BOC, including merchants engaged in catering, retailing, entertainment and tourism. Swiping with the cards, the cardholders can also enjoy a discount up to 50% of the site cost at over 20 golf courses within China. Moreover, all card-swiping purchases made outside Singapore will entitle the cardholders to double their swiping accumulated points. For business and travelling clients, BOC can also recommend special local service merchants like legal and translation service.
Recent years have witnessed increasingly frequent social and economic exchanges between China and Singapore. Statistics of China National Tourism Administration indicate that the number of Singaporeans coming to China amounted to 830,000 in 2007, of which 130,000 were for business purpose. Statistics of Singapore Tourism Board indicate that the number of tourists from Chinese Mainland visiting Singapore amounted to 1.1 million in 2007, and China has become the second largest inbound tourist destination country for Singapore. Constantly strengthened Sino-Singapore economic and trade cooperation will see more personnel exchanges between the two countries. Issuance of CUP Standard Great Wall Platinum Card will provide tremendous payment convenience for Singaporeans travelling between China and Singapore. |
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