On Dec. 23, 2008, China Unionpay held a ceremony in Bali Island together with PT Abhimata Persada (hereinafter referred to as “PTAP”), the independent third-party institution in Indonesia, to officially announce the opening of merchant acceptance and handling business for CUP cards in Indonesia. From this day on, CUP cardholders can swipe cards for purchasing at merchants in Indonesia. The opening ceremony was jointly attended by the officials from Chinese Embassy in the Republic of Indonesia, Liu Tinghuan, President of China Unionpay, Darwin, CEO of PTAP and Director of Bali Tourism Bureau, etc.
Recent years witnessed increasingly close economic and trade exchanges as well as personnel communications between China and Indonesia. Being one of the most important overseas tourist destinations for Chinese citizens, Indonesia is visited by around 200,000 Chinese citizens every year. The opening of CUP card merchant acceptance and handling business this time will provide great payment convenience and further mutual communication. Before this, China Unionpay has already opened ATM acceptance and handling business of CUP cards in Citibank Indonesia through global cooperation with Citibank.
At present, merchants that have opened acceptance and handling business of CUP cards are mainly in Bali Island, Indonesia. As a world famous tourist and holiday resort, Bali Island is also one of the major overseas tourist destinations for Chinese citizens. According to the introduction by the Director of Bali Tourism Bureau, the number of Chinese tourists visiting Bali Island has been significantly increasing since 2006 and China has become the fifth largest overseas tourist source for Bali Island.
President Liu Tinghuan expressed that the opening of merchant acceptance and handling business for CUP cards in Indonesia this time will play an active role in further expanding the overseas acceptance and handling network of CUP cards and will improve the service provided to CUP cardholders. With its foothold in China and taking a global perspective, China Unionpay will further greatly expand its global acceptance and handling network based on the requirements of domestic and overseas cardholders, deepen the acceptance and handling environment of the already opened market, and better provide safe and highly-effective payment service with high quality to CUP cardholders.
Presently, CUP cards can be used for cash withdrawal from ATM machines in nearly 50 countries and regions overseas and swiping for purchase at POS machines of merchants in 30 countries and regions. Overseas card swiping via CUP can save currency conversion fee of around 1%-2% of the total card-swiping amount. Additionally, China Unionpay is also actively promoting overseas issuance of CUP standard card to provide payment convenience to overseas people for their work, travel and study in China. At present over 40 financial institutions from 8 countries and regions have officially issued CUP standard card overseas, with the issuance volume of nearly 4 million. China Unionpay is striding forward to become an internationally influential bankcard organization, which not only serves China but also faces an increasing number of countries and regions all over the world.
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