UFJ Bank and Japan Post plan to accept Chinese bank cards at their automated teller machines, according to informed sources.
UFJ Bank, a unit of Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc., and Japan Post, the government-run operator of postal services including banking, have joined hands with China UnionPay Co. to start the services.
China UnionPay operates an interbank settlement system comprising about 170 financial institutions.
UFJ Bank plans to begin the service in March, after merging next month with Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi. Initially, the new service will be available only at former UFJ ATMs, which number around 6,000 nationwide.
At Japan Post, the service will become available in May at all of its 26,500 ATMs throughout Japan.
The number of UnionPay-affiliated bank cards issued so far in China is estimated at 900 million. The number of Chinese travelers to Japan exceeded 600,000 in 2004 and is expected to top 1 million in two or three years.
China UnionPay and Japanese credit card firm Sumitomo Mitsui Card Co. on Thursday began a service allowing payments via UnionPay-affiliated Chinese bank cards at about 300 Japanese retailers, including volume sellers of home appliances, a popular destination for Chinese travelers.
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