INTERAC Brings Chinese Customers to Canadian ABMs

INTERAC, Canada's national debit network, and China Unionpay, China's national bank card payment network, have launched a new service that will give China Unionpay cardholders traveling in Canada the ability to withdraw cash from ABMs (automated banking machines) of participating acquirers in Canada.

According to a release, the agreement with China Unionpay builds on international expansion of the INTERAC network, which already has agreements in place with two U.S. debit networks.

INTERAC claims this agreement with China Unionpay will generate incremental ABM volumes for Canadian acquirers by giving them access to this growing cardholder base. The company cites statistics from the World Tourism Organization stating that China will become one of the top three outbound tourism markets in the world by 2010.

China Unionpay and INTERAC networks will connect through a gateway, to eliminate network setup and reduce development costs for Canadian acquirers.

Access to the service is available to all Canadian acquirers interested in evolving their ABM service offerings. Currently, the service is being offered at ABMs across Canada operated by CIBC and Open Solutions. ABMs that offer the service will feature the China Unionpay logo.