Standard Chartered issues yuan debit card in China

By George Chen

SHANGHAI, July 24 (Reuters) - Emerging market-focused bank Standard Chartered (STAN.L: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) (2888.HK: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) began issuing its first yuan-denominated debit card on Thursday as it targets business from China's more than $2 trillion in household savings.

Standard Chartered is the second foreign bank to issue local-currency debit cards in the world's fastest growing major economy, after Hong Kong's Bank of East Asia (0023.HK: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) launched its card for Chinese residents earlier this year.

"We have been in China for 150 years and at last we can now issue our own bank card," Katherine Tsang, chief executive of Standard Chartered China, told reporters after a launch ceremony.

She declined to give a timeframe for when the London-based bank could make a profit from its bank card business in China, but said the bank would increasingly focus on card-related services. The cards are expected to boost Standard Chartered's Internet-based and telephone banking services in China, where online shopping has been growing rapidly among young people in the country's emerging middle-class, Tsang said.

Standard Chartered also signed a strategic partnership on Thursday with China Unionpay, which is controlled by China's central bank and operates China's bank payment system and the national link-up to automatic teller machines (ATMs).

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China Unionpay will allow Standard Chartered's yuan debit card holders to withdraw cash from its 140,000 ATMs across the country, China Unionpay President Xu Luode said.

The cards can also be used for payments to China Unionpay's nearly 1 million merchant partners in China, including shops, restaurants and hotels, Xu said.