December 6, 2005
On the morning of December 5, 2005, Eastern Time, in New York of the United States, China UnionPay andDiscover Financial Services, Inc. jointly held a ceremony celebrating the acceptanceof Renminbi denominated China UnionPay Card in the US. Mr. Su Ning, Deputy Governor of thePeople’s Bank of China, attended the ceremony and announced the acceptance ofRenminbi denominated China UnionPay Card in the US market starting from December 5,2005. Mr. Su Ning also announced on this occasion that Renminbi denominatedChina UnionPay Card has been accepted in Indonesia, the Philippines, Vietnam, Germany, France, Spain and Luxemburg recently, and will beaccepted in Australia, New Zealand, Japan and Malaysia either in late 2005 or early 2006.
Mr. Su Ning commended the successful acceptance ofRenminbi denominated China UnionPay Card in the US market and attributed it to thejoint efforts of the China UnionPay and Discover Financial Services, Inc. Hesaid such an event would produce direct and influential effect both on thestrategic cooperation in payment and settlement areas between China and the US and on promoting Sino-USeconomic, trade and cultural exchanges, especially in facilitating Chinesecitizens’ consumption and travel in the US. Mr. Su Ning pointed out thatthe People’s Bank of China has been making great efforts to promote the healthyand fast development of the Chinese bankcard industry, and taking effectivemeasures to advance the interoperability and standardization of the Chinesebankcards. The People’s Bank of China has also strengthened its supportto bankcard business related international cooperation so as to providepayment and settlement convenience for the Chinese citizens to do business,travel, study and consume abroad, and to create a favorable condition for Chinato increase interactions with other countries and economies and achieve awin-win situation. Mr. Su Ning also said that the establishment and enlargementof international acquiring network of the Renminbi denominated China UnionPaycard will be conducive to encouraging the Chinese commercial banks and bankcardorganizations to engage in international competition, refine bankcard brandsystem and improve the overall competitiveness of the Chinese bankcardindustry.
China UnionPay is a cooperative bankcard institutionfounded in March 2003 with the approval of the People’s Bank of China.Currently, there are 165 issuing institutions, which issue UnionPay cardsexceeding 900 million nationwide. Bankcards with the UnionPay logo areaccepted widely not only in Mainland China, but also increasingly in the overseas market. Inrecent years, more and more Chinese people are traveling abroad. In order tomeet the growing needs of the Chinese cardholders in the overseas market, ChinaUnionPay has been making great efforts to expand overseas acceptance of theUnionPay bankcards. Following the acceptance of Renminbi denominatedChina UnionPay Card in Hong Kong and Macao in 2004, China UnionPay has further extended theacquiring services to Singapore, Republic of Korea, Thailand, Indonesia, the Philippines, Vietnam, Germany, France, Spain and Luxemburg. UnionPay cards willalso be soon accepted in Australia, New Zealand, Japan and Malaysia and the acquiringservices will be extended to more countries and regions in 2006. Atpresent, the issuance of China UnionPay card is growing rapidly, with theacquiring market persistently expanded and the product system and servicesystem continuously improved.
Discover Financial Services Inc. owns the thirdlargest bankcard brand in the US—Discover Card with over 50 million cardholdersand more than 4 million merchants and cash withdrawal points. Through thecooperation between Discover Financial Services Inc. and China UnionPay,UnionPay cardholders could swipe cards at merchants and withdraw cash on ATMsconnected to Discover network in the US.
The attendees from the Chinese side to the ceremonyalso included: Mr. Liu Tinghuan, Chairman of China UnionPay; Mr. Wan Jianhua,President of China UnionPay; Mr. Liu Biwei, Consul General of New YorkConsulate of the People’s Republic of China and senior executives from China UnionPay’s majorshare -holing banks. Guests from the US side included senior officials ofthe US Department of Treasury, Federal Reserve Bank of New York and theMunicipal government of New York City as well as Mr. John Mack, Chairmanand CEO of Morgan Stanley; Mr. David Nelms, Chairman and CEO of Discover FinancialServices and Mr. Roger Hochschild, President and COO of Discover FinancialServices also attended the ceremony.
