AEON Credit Service (Asia) to Begin JCB Card Issuing in Hong Kong

The new AEON/JCB Travel Card makes the most of the two companies ties to Japan by giving cardmembers special offers at merchants in Japan, exclusive low-price tours to Japan. The card design itself features a kabuki motif, one of Japans traditional performing arts. The cards unique Japan-focused features are added benefits to global acceptance of the JCB brand, access to JCB Plaza customer service centers in 31 popular destinations around the world and the wide variety of other value-added benefits available to all JCB cardmembers. The AEON/JCB Travel Card will be advertised aggressively in newspapers and magazines, on the subway system and buses, and through various other channels to reach the target market of approximately 3,400,000 in Hong Kong. AEON and JCB anticipate that more than 10,000 cards will be issued in the first year alone. In addition, the JCB brand will become even more widely accepted in the region from November when the Bank of East Asia joins the network of JCB acquiring partners in Hong Kong, making the AEON/JCB Card that much more widely accepted for local use by cardmembers as well. AEON Credit Service (Asia) is the third major card issuer to receive a license for issuing the JCB Card in Hong Kong, following HSBC and Hang Seng Bank. JCB began expanding globally as an international credit card brand by opening its first overseas subsidiary in Hong Kong in 1981, and the first JCB Card issuing program outside Japan was launched in partnership with HSBC four years later in 1985. The new agreement with AEON Credit Service (Asia) confirms JCBs long-standing commitment to Hong Kong. History of JCB in Hong Kong: 1981 JCB International (Asia) Ltd. established 1985 Acquiring and issuing license granted to HSBC 1994 JCB Card issuing program, JCB International (Asia) Ltd. 1998 Acquiring license granted to Hang Seng Bank 2003 Acquiring license granted to Bank of East Asia 2004 JCB Card issuing program, Hang Seng Bank