Chen Zhi (left), Vice Chairman of China UnionPay and Ohad Maimon (right), Executive Vice-President Strategy and Business Development of Leumi Card Ltd. jointly attended the ceremony

UnionPay International announced today that is has inked a cooperation agreement with Leumi Card Ltd. in Tel Aviv. The two sides have agreed to enable more local ATMs to accept UnionPay cards by the end of 2018, and will deepen collaboration in merchant acceptance and local card issuance. Chen Zhi, Vice Chairman of China UnionPay and Ohad Maimon, Executive Vice-President Strategy and Business Development of Leumi Card Ltd. jointly attended the ceremony.

In recent years, China and Israel have witnessed increasingly frequent cooperation in terms of economy, trade and technology innovation. Given that Israel has offered the 10-year multiple-entry visa to Chinese citizens, and many domestic airlines in China have launched non-stop flights to Tel Aviv, more and more Chinese people are visiting Israel. In 2016, the number of Chinese tourists to Israel grew by over 60% year-on-year, and this number is expected to exceed 100,000 this year. In this context, the Israel Ministry of Tourism plans to train tour guides for Chinese tourists, launch the Chinese version of its official website and increase Chinese-speaking hotel staff. In addition, the local financial institutions and merchants want to accept UnionPay so as to enhance the service capacity for Chinese tourists.

As the largest merchant acquirer in Israel, Leumi Card has opened all of its ATMs and some key merchants to support UnionPay cards. Since last year, UnionPay International have gradually realized acceptance at all the ATMs of Casponet through cooperation with Leumi Card. This time, UnionPay International and Leumi Card continue to deepen cooperation to enable more local ATMs to accept UnionPay cards for cash withdrawal.

Chen Zhi said, Israel is a significant country along the Belt and Road. And the cooperation between the UnionPay International and Leumi Card offer convenient and secure payment services to cardholders visiting Israel. Next, UnionPay will endeavor to realize card acceptance at POS terminals of Leumi Card, and further deepen cooperation in card issuance and cross-border remittance product development for the employees at the local Chinese-funded enterprises, jointly enhancing the country’s financial service capacity.