Merchant Solutions Helps Asian Businesses Tap into China's Outbound Travel Explosion
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SINGAPORE, June 1/PRNewswire-Asia-AsiaNet/ --
In a landmark deal covering multiple Asian markets, Merchant Solutions and Chinese bankcard
association China UnionPay (CUP) have announced an alliance that enables thousands of merchants
outside China to accept CUP debit and credit cards.
Merchant Solutions, the joint venture between global electronic payments processor First Data and
Standard Chartered, equips businesses with point-of-sale (POS) terminals and other products and services
to accept card payments. CUP, China’s bankcard association, its member banks currently have issued more
than 1.8 billion cards, many of which are now used by the growing number of Chinese people travelling
throughout Asia and beyond.
Merchant Solutions already enables merchants in Hong Kong and Macau to accept CUP cards and the
new agreement extends these services to Singapore, Malaysia, Brunei, Bangladesh, India and Sri Lanka.
Merchant Solutions CEO and Managing Director Sean Hesh said, “The deal offers real advantages to
merchants using Merchant Solutions’ network. Chinese outbound travel is on the rise and this is having a
tremendous impact on our markets around Asia. Merchants are keen to benefit from growing transaction
volumes and Merchant Solutions enables them to do so.”
“Cooperation with Merchant Solutions gives Chinese travellers in Asia-Pacific the freedom to access their
travel funds when they want, where they want,” said CUP First Executive Vice President Jianbo Cai. “It
further expands CUP’s card acceptance network abroad, as well as our other services to CUP cardholders.”
Research from China’s National Tourism Administration and the National Bureau of Statistics shows an
increase in Chinese travelling and spending abroad. In fact, they found that more than 40 million Chinese
travelled abroad in 2007, rising by 15 percent in 2008, to 46 million, and they estimate the number will top 50
million in 2009. They also discovered an overwhelming majority of outbound Chinese travel within Asia (36.3
million in 2007).
Chinese visitors to Singapore and Malaysia doubled between 2006 and 2008, and trips to India are
increasing rapidly. Besides spending on hospitality and souvenirs, Chinese travellers are attracted to
branded clothing, cosmetics, regional delicacies, digital products and other luxury items less readily available
in China. Now they will be able to purchase these more widely, using CUP cards.
Contact:
Sandra Pang
Pronto Communications
+852-25406872
prontopr@pacific.net.hk
SOURCE Merchant Solutions
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