With a strategic alliance with China Unionpay reached in early September, Sinapore-based DBS Bank can now offer the full suite of CUP card products and related services in markets it operates in. This covers debit and credit card issuance, CUP card acceptance at DBS POS terminals, and CUP card acceptance for cash withdrawal at all DBS’ ATMs regionally.

At present, CUP cardholders already enjoy the convenience of cash withdrawal at more than 950 DBS ATMs in Singapore and Hong Kong through an initiative launched last April.

CUP cards are also accepted at DBS POS terminals in Macau and Hong Kong. Singapore’s largest department store, Takashimaya Department Store becomes the first DBS merchant to accept CUP cards regionally.

According to statistics from the Singapore Tourism Board, more than 850,000 Chinese tourists visited Singapore in 2005, and that number grew 29 per cent to 1.1 million last year. Their total spending increased by almost 50 per cent over the same period to SGD 934 million last year. The average number of cash withdrawals at the ATMs per month also went up from 2,900 last year to 5,500* this year. In mone tary terms, a monthly average amount of SGD 1.2 million was withdrawn at the DBS ATMs last year compared to a monthly average of SGD 2.4 million in the first six months of this year.