Halyk Bank joined UnionPay International

21 December 2012

PRESS RELEASE

JSC "Halyk Bank" joined UnionPay International, the international payment system

The official presentation of UnionPay International ("UPI"), the international division of China UnionPay payment system ("CUP") was held in Shanghai, the People's Republic of China. JSC "Halyk Bank" ("Halyk Bank") joined the founding members of the new payment system and the UPI Member Council.

More than 60 Chinese and foreign commercial banks participated in the meeting of UPI founding members held within the opening ceremony. The Bylaws of Membership in UnionPay International were discussed and signed during the meeting. Moreover, the UnionPay International Member Council was elected consisting of 24 financial organizations. Halyk Bank was included to the Council's Board as a representative of Central and Eastern Europe, CIS and Central Asia region.

Mrs. Umut Shayakhmetova, CEO of Halyk Bank and Mr. Cai Jianbo, Executive Vice President of China UnionPay held a bilateral meeting during the opening ceremony and discussed the prospects of future cooperation.

Mrs. Umut Shayakhmetova, CEO of Halyk Bank noted: "Our partnership with China UnionPay, the largest processing company in card business, started in 2006 when we signed the Acquiring Agreement. Now, six years later, Halyk Bank became direct participant of China UnionPay's entry to the new stage of development by joining the founding members of UnionPay International, CUP's international division".

About 200 different companies representing government and financial sector of the People's Republic of China, as well as representatives of foreign banks - partners of China UnionPay participated in the event.

China UnionPay payment system was founded in 2002 by leading banks of the country with support of People's Bank of China. Two years later the company started to operate outside the People's Republic of China and currently operates in 135 countries.

Mr. Zhang Chengdong, representative of CUP in Kazakhstan noted: "Initially the system served citizens of China holding China UnionPay payment cards. Starting from 2006 when CUP payment system entered the international markets, our business expanded to non-residents holding our payment cards abroad. This number is currently about 15 million".

Halyk Bank is the leading financial services group and the leading retail bank in Kazakhstan with the largest customer base and the broadest branch network. Halyk Bank is developing as a universal financial services group rendering a wide range of services (banking services, pension asset management, insurance, leasing, brokerage services and asset management) to its retail, SME and corporate clients. Halyk Bank is also conducting business in Russia, Georgia and Kyrgyzstan.

China UnionPay (Chinese: 中国银联; pinyin: Zhōngguó Yínlián), is the national payment system of China established in 2002 as an association of Chinese banks under the approval of the State Council and People's Bank of China. CUP is number one in the world by number of payment cards issued.