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| The Number of CUP Standard Cards Issued in Korea Exceeding 300,000 |
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2008-10-29 |
The site of the celebration ceremony, CUP President Xu Luode (right), Board Chairman and Director of BC Card Zhang Hengde (left) and Consulate General Jin Zhengji (middle) of Consulate General of the Republic of Korea in Shanghai
On 29 October, China Unionpay (CUP) and BC Card, the biggest credit company in Korea, held a grand celebration ceremony for card issue in Shanghai, to congratulate on the number of CUP Standard Card issued in Korea surpassing 300,000. CUP President Xu Luode, Board Chairman and Director of BC Card Zhang Hengde and Consulate General Jin Zhengji of Consulate General of the Republic of Korea in Shanghai attended the ceremony. This issue (over 300,000) is another success in the globalization process of CUP brand.
BC Card of Korea, together with its member banks, launched CUP Standard Cards in Korea in Feb. 2008. The issue of this card is not only highly valued by the Korean bank card industry, but also well received by the Korean people. Since its launch, the issue volume has been showing an explosive growth, and until Oct. 29, the volume has surpassed 300,000. At present, 11 mainstream banks in Korea have launched a wealth of CUP standard card products including debit card, credit card, pre-paid card etc. to meet the diversified needs of customers of different levels. The issue of CUP Standard Card in Korea has provided Koreans who pay frequent visits to China with “wiping as they wish all over China”.
CUP President Xu Luode says that with the growing exchanges of trade and personnel between China and Korea, the cooperation between CUP and BC Card expects no limit. CUP will take the issue of 300,000 cards in Korea as a new starting point to strengthen cooperation and advance together with a dependence on complementary advantages, and to provide better quality and efficient bank card payment services to people of these two countries.
Director of Korean BC Card Zhang Hengde expresses that China and Korea still have room for cooperation in the field of bank card payment, and he is very optimistic about the prospect for development of CUP Card in Korea. He will also take this celebration ceremony as the new starting point, and continue his efforts to promote the issuance of CUP Standard Card in Korea, and push the mutual and beneficial cooperation to a new height.
It is known that CUP and BC Card have long been maintaining a comprehensive and sound cooperative relationship. Except for the joint efforts to issue CUP Standard Card in Korea, CUP realized the CUP card acceptance and handling business in Korea with the help of BC Card in Jan. 2005. Currently, merchants accepting CUP cards in Korea have exceeded 10,000, with ATM reaching 11,000 sets. From Jan. to Sep. this year, the transaction volume of CUP cards in Korea have reached 200 million RMB, more than doubled that of the same period last year.
Behind the rapid development of CUP’s business in Korea lie the ever-deepening exchanges of trade and personnel between these two countries. Statistics show that the bilateral trade volume of Sino-Korea amounted to 159.9 billion US dollars in 2007, with Korean visitors coming to China near 5 million, and Chinese visitors to Korea over 1 million. Currently, there are nearly 1 million Koreans who live constantly in China, and the Korean students who study in Chinese universities and colleges are over 60,000. Frequent exchanges of business and personnel urge the faster and more convenient bank card payment services.
To make it more convenient to use CUP standard cards issued in Korea within the Chinese territory, and promise the card holders with more conveniences and benefits, at the beginning of this year, CUP began training merchants and cashiers on the acceptance and handling of overseas-issued CUP standard cards in major cities across China. And together with BC Card, CUP launched the golf activity of “for four men package, one man free of charge” towards Korean CUP standard card holders in Beijing, Shanghai and Qingdao since October.
In recent years, CUP has been continuously promoting the globalization of China’s own bank card brand. Up till now, CUP cards can be used to draw money on ATMs in nearly 50 countries and regions and be used to pay for purchases on merchants’ POS terminals in 28 countries and regions outside China. Many mainstream overseas bank card issuers have been trying to issue CUP Standard Card in a positive manner. At present, 8 countries and regions including Hongkong, Macao, Singapore, Japan, Korea, Kazakhstan, Mongolia and Russia have issued CUP Standard Card, and the issue volume has been over 3.5 million. Experts say that a bank card payment brand with real global influence must have the beneficial interaction between widespread acceptance network and a wide scope of card issuing. The rapid development of CUP overseas issuance will accelerate CUP’s globalization process.
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