China UnionPay extends presence in Taiwan ahead of tourism program

BEIJING - China UnionPay (CUP), a bank card services provider, said Monday it has reached an agreement with Taiwan-based Financial Information Service (FISC) to further expand the acceptance of CUP bank cards in Taiwan.

According to the agreement between CUP and FISC, CUP bank cards will be accepted by 3,000 automatic teller machines (ATMs) owned by the Chunghwa Post Co. The deal enables CUP bank cards to be accepted by about 80 percent of the total ATMs in Taiwan and is expected to facilitate the use of bank cards by tourists from the Chinese mainland ahead of a pilot travel program that will allow mainlanders to visit Taiwan as individual tourists.

The first group of individual mainland tourists will set out for Taiwan on Tuesday. CUP bank cards can now be used at Taiwan's airport tax-free stores, convenient stores, shopping malls, scenic spots and in taxis. Some 1.16 million mainland tourists visited Taiwan last year, a year-on-year increase of 92.6 percent. The island became a popular travel destination for mainland tourists after Taiwan lifted a travel ban for mainland group visitors in July 2008.