COLUMBUS, Ga.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--TSYS today announced that China UnionPay Data Services Co., Ltd. (CUP Data), TSYS’ joint venture with China UnionPay (CUP), has signed five new long-term bankcard processing agreements, and won several major domestic and international awards during the last six months.

The new agreements include credit card processing contracts with Yaodu Credit Cooperative; Shandong Provincial City Commercial Banks Alliance, an alliance of 14 city commercial banks; Yunan Rural Credit Union and Guangxi Beibu Gulf Bank. The new agreements also include a prepaid processing contract with KargoCard, a Malaysia-based retail marketing company that will be introducing innovative stored-value and reloadable gift card programs to retail brands and merchants in Asia.

In February of this year, three systems owned by CUP Data were all recognized as ”Most Excellent Software Products” by the Shanghai Software Industry Association. These awards fully demonstrate that CUP Data is one of the most sophisticated, flexible and adaptable third-party payment providers in China. Systems mentioned in the awards included CUP Data Issuing System Software V1.0, CUP Front-end Interface System V1.0 and the CUP Data Customer Services System V1.0.

In May, the debit card project CUP Data implemented for Citibank won “Best Retail Payment Project Award 2009” from Asian Banker for its outstanding integration of the bank’s debit card technology infrastructure with the processing system of CUP Data. The publication cited the collaborative approach, which enabled Citi China to “enhance banking experience and convenience by providing customers with access to ATM and POS facilities, as well as mobile payment capabilities.” Asian Banker also highlighted that Citi China was the first foreign bank in China to offer debit and mobile payment services, which increased “customer satisfaction, loyalty and cross-selling prospects for the bank.”

“While the Chinese financial industry has remained relatively stable during the current economic crisis, we believe that now more than ever, it is important to bring reliability, agility and innovation to the clients we serve,” said Yan Fang Wang, president of CUP Data. “We help our clients thrive through the excellence of our technology, the expertise of our people and the dedication of our services.”

“CUP Data is not only recognized as the strongest outsourced payment solutions provider in China, but also as one of the best bank IT service providers in the Asia Pacific Region,” said David E. Duncan, managing director of TSYS Asia-Pacific.

“CUP Data has signed ninety-six percent of the banks in China that have outsourced the processing of their credit cards, including three of China’s largest banks, China Minsheng Bank, Industrial Bank of China, and China Postal Savings Bank,” said Gaylon Jowers, president of TSYS International. “CUP Data also processes for Bank of East Asia, the first foreign bank to issue credit cards in China.”

About CUP Data

China UnionPay Data Services Co., Ltd. (CUP Data) is China’s largest third-party processor of bankcard payments providing transaction processing, disaster recovery and other services for issuing banks in China. CUP Data was established in 2003, and has signed more than 60 credit-, debit- and prepaid-processing client banks at year-end 2008.

TSYS owns a 44.5-percent equity stake in CUP Data, a subsidiary of China UnionPay (CUP). CUP is the only payments network sanctioned by the People’s Bank of China, China’s central bank, and has become one of the world’s largest and fastest-growing payments networks.

About TSYS

TSYS (NYSE: TSS) is one of the world’s largest companies for outsourced payment services, offering a broad range of issuer- and acquirer-processing technologies that support consumer-finance, credit, debit, debt management, healthcare, loyalty and prepaid services for financial institutions and retail companies in the Americas, EMEA and Asia-Pacific regions. For more information contact news@tsys.com or log on to www.tsys.com. TSYS routinely posts all important information on its website.