MEDIA RELEASE PR41510
Itau Unibanco and China Unionpay Sign Trade and Cooperation Agreement
SAO PAULO, Sept. 29 /PRNewswire-AsiaNet/ --
Itau Unibanco signed yesterday a trade and cooperation agreement with
CHINA UNIONPAY CO. LTD (CUP). By this contract, CUP clients with their 2.2
billion credit and debit cards will be able to withdraw at over 30,000 Itau
ATMs 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
CUP, based in Shanghai, was established in March 2002 and today has over
400 associated institutions, domestic and foreign. It is present in over 90
countries.
In 2009, about 50 million Chinese traveled overseas. The expectation is
that this number will increase significantly over the next five years. Brazil
is already a popular destination for Chinese and should be even more due to
the 2014 FIFA World Cup and the 2016 Olympic Games.
"The acceptance of our ATMs is the first step of a strategic alliance
between Itau Unibanco and CUP. It is also related to the partnership that
Redecard, a company controlled by Itau Unibanco, has just signed with CUP so
that the network of commercial points associated with Redecard in Brazil
could also accept the 2.2 billion cards with the Asian brand" says Fernando
Teles, Itau Unibanco's Credit Cards director.
SOURCE: Banco Itau Holding Financeira S/A
CONTACT: Paulo Marinao, Corporate Communications, Itau Unibanco, +55-11-5019-8880/8881,
imprensa@itau-unibanco.com.br