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Chairman Liu Tinghuan from China UnionPay(right) and Chairman Gérard Hardy from The Mauritius Commercial Bank Ltd(left) attended the opening ceremony.
On January 22nd, China UnionPay and The Mauritius Commercial Bank Ltd. held a ceremony in Port Louis, the capital of Mauritius to announce first opening of CUP card acceptance business for merchants in Mauritius, and opening of acceptance business via ATM machines of The Mauritius Commercial Bank Ltd. The opening ceremony was attended by Chairman Liu Tinghuan from China UnionPay and Chairman Gérard Hardy from The Mauritius Commercial Bank Ltd., with participation and congratulations from Chinese Ambassador to Mauritius Bian Yanhua and CEO Aisha Timol from Mauritius Bankers Association.
China UnionPay and The Mauritius Commercial Bank Ltd. cooperated with each other this time to open hundreds of merchants firstly, and are expected to realize acceptance by around 3,000 merchants in total within the year. Meanwhile, CUP card can be accepted via all ATM machines of this bank within the territory of Mauritius, with the opening quantity accounting for around 40% of the total number of local ATM machines. The acceptance points of merchants and ATM machines are mainly distributed in the places frequently visited by CUP cardholders like airports, scenic spots, souvenir shops, hotels, restaurants, etc.
The recent years has witnessed rapid extension of CUP card acceptance scope in Africa. China UnionPay opened its acceptance business in Egypt and South Africa respectively in 2007 and 2008, followed by Congo-Kinshasa, Uganda, Kenya, Botswana, Zambia, Djibouti, Ghana, Gambia, etc. successively in 2009. From North Africa to South Africa, and from the East Coast to the West Coast, the acceptance scope of CUP card is constantly expanded. The acceptance network of CUP card in Africa has taken shape, laying a solid foundation for its further extension.
According to Chairman Liu Tinghuan from China UnionPay, the opening of CUP card acceptance business between China UnionPay and The Mauritius Commercial Bank Ltd. this time kicked off to a great start for both parties’ cooperation in African market this year. Mr. Liu Tinghuan also said that CUP’s international acceptance network had extended to 83 countries and regions till now. Not long ago Chinese President Hu Jintao visited China UnionPay and requested us to constantly expand our business fields, improve our service level, accelerate our internationalization process, and strive to establish “CUP” as one major bankcard brand worldwide. China UnionPay will actively implement the instruction spirit of President Hu Jintao, and spare no efforts to promote internationalization of China UnionPay as well as constantly improve the service capability and service level for broad CUP cardholders.
According to Chinese Ambassador to Mauritius Bian Yanhua, under the background of continuous deepening of economic cooperation and increasingly frequent personnel exchange between China and Mauritius, the cross-border financial service is becoming increasingly more important in promoting bilateral relationship. The bilateral cooperation in financial field is promising with great significance in promoting development of friendly relations between both countries.
According to Chairman Gérard Hardy from The Mauritius Commercial Bank Ltd., the cooperation with China UnionPay has brought hundreds of millions of CUP card customers for The Mauritius Commercial Bank Ltd. and its merchants, which will create sound economic benefits.
The Mauritius Commercial Bank Ltd. is the largest local commercial bank with overseas branches in Seychelles, Madagascar, etc. Both parties agree to gradually open CUP card acceptance business in these countries.
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