China UnionPay gains ground in Northeast Asia

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BEIJING, Aug. 26 (Xinhua): With popularisation of China UnionPay (CUP) cards in Northeast Asian countries including China, Japan, Republic of Korea (ROK), Russia, Mongolia and DPRK, a CUP payment system has emerged in Northeast Asia.

Northeast Asia, as an important regional economy, takes a 40 per cent share in internal trade of Asia, a 21 per cent share in global export and a 16 per cent share in global import. There is strong need for a regional bankcard payment system in the region.

According to statistics, CUP now has some 10,000 merchant partners and 11,000 ATMs in ROK, 10,000 merchant partners and 50,000 ATMs in Japan and 1400 ATMs in Russia, basically forming a sound CUP payment system in Northeast Asia.

The transaction value via CUP cards in Northeast Asia is growing rapidly, with the bilateral trade via such cards between China and Japan, ROK, Russia and Mongolia exceeded 600 million yuan in the first half of 2008, 4-fold more than the previous year.

It is learned that China Unionpay is further developing cooperation with major finance institutions in Northeast Asian countries, which would expand merchant partners of CUP and lay solid foundations for CUP payment popularization.