Source: China Unionpay
Itau Unibanco signed yesterday a trade and cooperation agreementwith 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.