DUSHANBE, October 21, 2010, Asia-Plus — Automatic teller machines (ATM) of Tojik Sodirot Bonk (TSB) have begun to serve the China UnionPay (CUP) credit cards, according to TSB’s headquarters in Dushanbe.
“CUP is a dynamically developing credit card company and more than 1.5 billion its credit cards have been in circulation to this day,” said the source, “The CUP cards are now issued in 14 countries across the world, including Russia.”
According to him, TSB now has 26 ATMs, including 23 ATMs installed in Dushanbe, two in Khujand and one in Qurghon Teppa.
TSB was established in December 1990 as the Tajik branch of the Vnesh Econom Bank of the former Soviet Union, and it initially specialized in trade and import-export banking. Later this branch was reorganized into a Joint-Stock Commercial Bank “Tajikvnesheconombank”. In June 1999 the bank was renamed and registered as Tojiksodirotbonk or TSB. Headquartered in Dushanbe, TSB has 11 branches in the main cities of Tajikistan and covering all regions of the country. Its clients include the biggest Tajik trading companies, other enterprises, entrepreneurs, and some of the embassies and diplomatic organizations based in Dushanbe.
According to Wikipedia, China UnionPay (CUP) is the only domestic credit card organization in China. Founded in March 2002, China UnionPay is an association for China”s banking card industry, operating under the approval of the People”s Bank of China (PBOC, central bank of China). Almost all UnionPay Credit Cards are also affiliated with either American Express, MasterCard or Visa, and they can be used abroad as an American Express, Mastercard or Visa. UnionPay Debit Cards, however, can only be used in the UnionPay network and a few other networks that have signed contracts with UnionPay.
