KTB, China UnionPay launch joint debit card
State-owned Krungthai Bank and China UnionPay yesterday announced a partnership with the launch of Thailand's first UnionPay debit card to support the activities of Thai and Chinese customers.
KTB president Vorapak Tanyawong said the bank would play an important role in the financial cooperation between China and Thailand, especially in the Greater Mekong Subregion, and the KTB-UnionPay debit card was the first product of this partnership.
He said the target group for the debit card was Thai customers who have activities in China, such as parents who send their children to study there.
The card is accepted by UnionPay’s network in 130 countries and regions, including Thailand.
Krungthai Bank targets 1 million KTB-UnionPay cards for the first year, consisting of the bank’s existing customers as well as new ones. The increasing activities between Thailand and China will help support growing popularity of debit cards, he said, adding that the bank projected the number of KTB-UnionPay cards to reach 4 million within three years.
Su Ning, chairman of China UnionPay, the sole issuer of credit cards in China, said debit cards accounted for 90 per cent of UnionPay’s plastic cards. It currently has about 3.4 billion debit cards in circulation worldwide.
Amara Klabprathum, executive vice president of KTB, said it had a base of 5 million debit cards, and monthly transactions via these cards was the highest in the industry at Bt10 million.
UnionPay will also today announce a partnership with Kasikornbank for Internet banking payments.
