Merchant Solutions expands acquiring network to include JCB cards

Merchant Solutions, the acquiring joint venture between global electronic payments processor First Data and Standard Chartered Bank, has signed an agreement to initiate merchant acquiring for JCB, a major global payment brand originated in Japan. According to this agreement, JCB card members will be able to use their cards at thousands of purchase points in Hong Kong, Macau, China, Singapore, Malaysia, Brunei, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.

Merchant Solutions already enables merchants to accept Visa, MasterCard and China UnionPay branded cards in many of these markets today, and they will now be able to capture more business as JCB cardholders travel across Asia.

According to the Japan National Tourist Organisation, in 2007 more than half of 13 million overseas visitors traveled to countries covered by the new arrangement between Merchant Solutions and JCB International, a wholly-owned subsidiary of JCB Co., Ltd., a brand holder of JCB, and a major issuer and acquirer in Japan. According to the JNTO, 1.3 million Japanese visitors traveled to Hong Kong during 2008, and according to the Hong Kong Tourism board, they spent 3.5 billion Hong Kong dollars.