UnionPay cards to be accepted at all ATMs in Panama
UnionPay International signs strategic cooperation agreement with Telered2018-04-24
Chairman of China UnionPay, Ge Huayong (middle) and CEO of Telered Ramiro Wong (2nd right) attended the ceremony; Wei Qiang (2nd left), China's ambassador to Panama was also present
On April 23rd local time, Unionpay International signed a strategic cooperation agreement with Telered, the largest electronic payment network in Panama, announcing that UnionPay is already accepted at all the local ATMs. The two sides have also agreed to enable all the POS terminals of Telered to accept UnionPay cards, and will collaborate with the member banks of Telered in card issuance. Mr. Ge Huayong, Chairman of China UnionPay and Mr. Ramiro Wong, CEO of Telered attended the launching ceremony, and Mr. Wei Qiang, China’s ambassador to Panama was present to witness.
Panama is a world-famous shipping and offshore financial center. With China and Panama established diplomatic relations in 2017, the trade and personnel exchanges between the two countries are increasingly frequent. In answer to this trend, UnionPay International is accelerating its expansion in Panama. In this January, UnionPay International teamed up with Credicorp in Panama to issue the first UnionPay prepaid card, which can be used in the UnionPay network across 168 countries and regions, offering cross-border payment easy to business travelers in Panama. In this March, some local retailers have also accepted UnionPay QR code payment, marking the debut of UnionPay mobile payment in the Americas.
Mr. Wei Qiang said in his speech that, China is the world’s second largest economy and is the second largest user of the Panama Canal. Panama has great geographical advantages. In this context, China and Panama enjoy bright prospects for development. Both UnionPay and Telered are modern and highly-internationalized fintech companies, enjoying a high reputation. This cooperation between the two will promote the trade and personnel exchanges between the two countries, and is an important step of the implementation of the Belt and Road Initiative in Latin America.
Mr. Ge Huayong said, with the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Panama, UnionPay is very glad to build the payment bridge to facilitate the trade and travel exchanges between the two countries. UnionPay is willing to deepen our strategic collaboration with Telered in fields of acceptance network expansion, technology exchange and local card issuance, to bring new payment options to the local residents as well as to support the development of the local payment industry.
As Clave network subordinate to Telered is the only ATM network in Panama, the Clave debit card is the major debit card product in the country, taking up over 95% of the market share. At present, UnionPay International has partnered with Clave to enable almost all the ATMs in Panama to accept UnionPay cards, and has reached an agreement with Clave to enable about 30,000 POS terminals within the Telered network to accept UnionPay. In addition, the parties will cooperate with the member banks of Telered to issue UnionPay and Clave cards so that the local cardholders will be able to pay in the UnionPay global network.
Mr. Ramiro Wong said, UnionPay is one of the world’s largest payment networks, and Telered is glad to have reached strategic cooperation with UnionPay. Recently, China and Panama have signed an agreement to boost China-Panama tourism and this cooperation between Telered and UnionPay will facilitate the implementation of this agreement. This cooperation will also strengthen the collaboration in travel, logistics and finance between the two countries, realizing a win-win situation.
To date, UnionPay is present in 14 Latin American countries and regions, including the emerging tourism destinations such as Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, Peru and Surinam. The UnionPay acceptance network covers scenic spots, shopping malls, duty-free stores and restaurants favored by tourists. For instance, about 90% of ATMs in Mexico accept UnionPay cards for cash withdrawal; UnionPay cards are issued in Surinam and Antigua.
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