New Beginnings in Asia Pacific: Diners Club Cards Issued in China
Late last summer Diners Club International® and Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) announced plans to bring a new Diners Club International franchise to the Asia Pacific region. And here we are: one year later, we celebrated the official launch of Diners Club cards for Chinese consumers at a ceremony in Beijing.
This event signifies a new beginning for Diners Club International in the Asia Pacific region. Given the rapid growth of the Chinese credit card market in recent years, China is key to us as we continue to expand internationally.
ICBC is the largest credit card issuer in China, the largest bank in China and frequently the largest in the world by market cap. With more than 4 million corporate customer relationships, over 400 million retail banking customers, and an ambition to be the biggest credit card issuer in the world, ICBC is a dynamic partner and I am excited about the tremendous potential of us working together.
We are committed to making the ICBC program a great success in China and abroad. To do that, we will continue to collaborate, share best practices and develop special programs such as marketing promotions focused on driving their cardholders to major travel destinations in North America.
Of course, this could not have been possible without tremendous teamwork both within Eduardo Tobon’s team at Diners Club and with our partners at ICBC. Now that the new path ahead has been forged, we are excited to see the fruit of this strong partnership after one year and we hope for many years down the road, both for our business in China and for the rest of our global network.