CUP President Xu Luode  made a speech at the launching ceremony


        On June 12, China UnionPay and La Caixa, the major bankcard acquirer in Spain, announced the opening of CUP card acceptance business for all ATM machines of the bank at a ceremony in Shanghai. This marks another major progress CUP had made in the global market since it opened CUP card ATM acceptance business in Spain in 2005. Carlos Blasco Villa, Spanish Ambassador to China, CUP President Xu Luode, and President Juan María Nin of La Caixa attended the launching ceremony.

From now on, around 8,000 ATMs of La Caixa are available for cash withdrawal with CUP cards. For the convenience of CUP cardholders, most of the ATMs will be posted with CUP logo, and installed with Chinese language operation interface. Along with opening of CUP card acceptance business at La Caixa, CUP card acceptance network has covered more than 40% ATMs across Spain, allowing the CUP cardholders to withdraw euro cash with CUP cards directly at ATMs of La Caixa, Euro6000 and Citibank.

The recent years has witnessed increasingly closer economic and trade exchanges between China and Spain. The number of the Chinese visiting Spain every year increases by around 15%. More than 40% ATMs in Spain accept CUP cards, which provide great convenience for CUP cardholders during their business, travel and study in Spain. Unlike other bankcard networks, CUP network allows RMB deduction for EUR withdrawal based on the exchange rate of the current day in Spain. This not only avoid the risk of exchange rate fluctuation for the cardholders, but also save the currency conversion fee of around 1 - 2% of the total transaction amount.

CUP President Xu Luode said at the launching ceremony that the opening of CUP card ATM withdrawal business at La Caixa will not only expands the coverage of CUP card acceptance network in Spain, but also promote economic and trade relations as well as people-to-people exchanges between China and Spain. CUP will continue to cooperate with La Caixa to improve the acceptance environment of CUP card in Spain and provide superior, safer and more efficient bankcard payment service for CUP cardholders visiting Spain.

President Juan María Nin of La Caixa expressed his appreciation for this cooperation with CUP. With China’s robust economic growth and increasing consumption capability of Chinese tourists, the cooperation between CUP and La Caixa will not only bring new business growth point for La Caixa, but also attract more business opportunities from China to Spain.

About La Caixa

As the third largest bank group, the largest savings bank and a major bankcard acquirer in Spain, La Caixa has more than 5,500 branches, around 8,000 ATMs and over 170,000 POS terminals across Spain. The ATM acceptance network of La Caixa covers major cities in Spain, in particular Barcelona, the second largest city in Spain and the famous tourist resort for Chinese people.