BEA, regarded as a longstanding market leader in the Asia Pacific region, is the first foreign bank to independently launch its own credit card program in China.

BEA has the largest number of operating outlets of any foreign bank in China. Through its large and growing distribution network and reputation as the first foreign bank to successfully launch a credit card, it has taken a leading position among foreign banks in China.

"It is a great honor to establish a working relationship with a bank as reputable as the Bank of East Asia. By selecting CUP Data as a processing partner, it has reaffirmed our status as a leader in the eyes of both domestic and international players looking to enter the Chinese market," said Mr. Yan Fang Wang, president of CUP Data.

"Partnering with the first foreign credit card issuer in China is a significant milestone in CUP Data's development," said Mr. David E. Duncan, Group Executive for China and Southeast Asia for TSYS. "TSYS could not be more pleased with the success that CUP Data has achieved. We see CUP Data's success as a long-term trend and will continue to fully support its growth."

CUP Data is China's largest third-party processor of electronic payments, providing transaction processing, disaster recovery and other services for issuing banks in China. CUP Data was established in 2003, and has signed more than 61 credit, debit and prepaid processing client banks at year-end 2008

TSYS owns a 44.5-percent equity stake in CUP Data, a subsidiary of China UnionPay (CUP). CUP is the only payments network sanctioned by the People's Bank of China, China's central bank, and has become one of the world's largest and fastest-growing payments networks.