China UnionPay last week signed an agreement that will allow Chinese tourists to use their China UnionPay cards to access a Standard Chartered Bank subsidiary’s ATMs in several African countries, a spokesperson for the China-based card company tells PaymentsSource. Standard Chartered is based in the United Kingdom, and the subsidiary is based in Kenya.
“The deal between the bank and [China UnionPay] will allow UnionPay cardholders to withdraw cash in Kenyan Shillings and make account inquiries at any [Standard Chartered] ATM.”
The service will not be restricted to Kenya, according to the official, “[China UnionPay] cardholders will be able to withdraw cash at [Standard Chartered] ATMs in Kenya, Zambia, Gambia, Uganda and Botswana,” he says. “More countries in Africa will be bought under the gambit of [China UnionPay] acceptance.”
China UnionPay is China’s domestic credit card organization that had issued more than 2.5 billion cards as of the end of June. The issuer last year had signed a similar agreement with South Africa-based Standard Bank for ATM acceptance of its cards in that country.
