China UnionPay expands bankcard network in Brazil

BEIJING - China UnionPay Co Ltd (CUP), a Chinese bankcard services provider, said Monday it has expanded its card acceptance services in Brazil with the signing of cooperation agreements with two Brazilian financial institutions.

China UnionPay said it has reached agreement with Itau Unibanco, Brazil's largest commercial bank, and Redecard, the country's leading card payments processor, to expand Brazilian merchants' acceptance of CUP cards and the acceptance of CUP cards at automatic teller machines (ATM) in Brazil.

The new agreements allow another 24,000 ATM machines to accept CUP cards in Brazil. Previously, China UnionPay only ran an ATM business in the country in cooperation with Citibank.

A total of 130,000 Brazilian merchants, or more than 80 percent of the total, will be able to accept CUP cards, said the company.

Su Ning, board chairman of China UnionPay, said the company will further boost cooperation with financial institutions in South America, to expand its bankcard network in the region.