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National Australia Bank has signed an agreement with China Unionpay (CUP) that will enable millions of Chinese visitors to use their Chinese credit and debit cards to make EFTPOS purchases and use ATMs in Australia.
NAB CEO Australia Ahmed Fahour said this development is a boon for 86,000 Australian merchants with over 100,000 NAB EFTPOS terminals as it will open their doors to a very rapidly-growing Chinese market.
"There are hundreds of millions of CUP cards in circulation," Mr Fahour said. "China Union Pay estimates that the number of Chinese visitors to Australia is increasing by around 20% per annum and is likely to exceed one million per year within five years. This is an important opportunity, especially in the student and tourism markets.
"NAB is the first Australian bank to have reached this agreement with China Unionpay and this gives us another competitive advantage here in Australia. Businesses who use NAB as their merchant acquirer, will have a great advantage in attracting Chinese customers when they can accept CUP card payments and display the CUP logo on their shopfronts alongside the familiar Visa and Mastercard logos."
Vice President of CUP's International Division, Mr Jeffrey Huang said CUP, as the only bankcard association in China, was pleased to jointly launch the CUP card acceptance project in Australia with Australia's largest bank.
"We firmly believe that this will be a 'win-win' situation for both of us and will deliver significant benefits for cardholders," said Mr Huang.
NAB's network of 1,300 ATMs already accepts CUP cards. NAB's new EFTPOS terminals will be configured to accept CUP cards by the end of the year.
China Unionpay was established by more than 80 Chinese banks in 2002. It supports electronic transactions between consumers, merchants and issuing banks all over the world, in much the same was as Visa and Mastercard do. CUP has over 99% of the Bankcard market in China.
For further information, please contact:
John Fergusson
Corporate Affairs Manager - Business & Private
M 0407 826 952
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