Agribank Starts Merchant Acquiring for JCB Card in Vietnam; JCB Cardmember Convenience Improves in Vietnam with Stronger Card Acceptance

Hanoi and Tokyo, Aug 17, 2010 - (JCN Newswire) - Vietnam Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (Agribank), and JCB International (JCBI), the international operations subsidiary of JCB, Japan's major credit card brand and also an issuer, announced that Agribank today started to recruit JCB credit card merchants in Vietnam based on the agreement signed by both parties in July 2009. Agribank is the largest commercial bank and one of the major credit card acquiring banks in Vietnam. Agribank will phase in JCB card acceptance for purchases at Agribank merchants and cash withdrawals through the Agribank ATM network. The bank targets to complete acquiring operation of JCB card acceptance at all of its existing 4,000 merchants and 2,100 ATMs by the end of 2010. JCB and JCBI entered into the Vietnam market to expand JCB card acceptance since 1991. Credit card market has turned into a side of a progress due to Vietnam's strong economic growth after the country joined the WTO in 2007. Since then JCB and JCBI have been accelerating their effort with the aim of further enhancing convenience for over 64 million JCB cardmembers largely based in Asia, including Japan, China, Korea, and Taiwan who travel to Vietnam. For Agribank, the alliance with JCBI will bring the bank's merchants more payment options and sales opportunities generated by the growing JCB cardmember base in Asia.