Four HK Banks Sign Deals To Issue Yuan Credit Cards

Four Hong Kong banks have signed deals with China UnionPay to enable them to issue Chinese-yuan denominated credit cards and operate yuan credit card payments at merchants point-of-sale machines. The four are Hongkong & Shanghai Banking Corp., the Asian unit of HSBC, Standard Chartered, Bank of East Asia, and HSBC unit Hang Seng Bank. In November, Chinas central bank, signed an agreement with the Hong Kong Monetary Authority to allow Hong Kong banks to conduct yuan business for retail customers, like deposits and remittances. Since Jan. 1 Hong Kong banks have been able to take yuan deposits, offer yuan-denominated credit cards, and exchange and remit yuan for their customers. BOC Hong Kong is the clearing bank for the services. As part of the scheme, mainland Chinese residents can use their yuan bank cards and credit cards issued by mainland Chinese banks in Hong Kong, and Hong Kong banks or their subsidiaries can issue yuan bank cards and credit cards to Hong Kong residents for use in mainland China. China UnionPay was founded in March, 2002 as the only national payment network linking many Chinese banks. There are more than 500 million UnionPay credit and debit cards in circulation issued by 88 Chinese financial institutions.