Credit Saison Co., a major Japanese credit card company, said it would tie up with the Bank of China (BOC) in offering credit card services for Japanese citizens living in China.

The Bank of China, one of the four big banks in China, will be the issuer of the credit cards, which will enable Japanese businesspeople living in Shanghai and other parts of China to settle their credit-card charges in yuan.

As Japanese people currently can only use credit cards issued in their home country, settlement is done in the Japanese yen. But the new credit cards issued by the BOC will enable yuan-denominated settlements.

Credit Saison plans to set up a new subsidiary, which will offer credit know-how and other consulting services to the BOC. Credit Saison would hold 75 percent of the new subsidiary to be capitalized at US$700,000, while trading house Mitsubishi Corp. would take 25 percent, said a Credit Saison spokesman.

As China��s credit card market was expected to grow, the latest tie-up with the BOC was aimed at studying what kind of services Credit Saison would be able to offer there, the spokesman.

He said Credit Saison currently did not have any specific plans to launch credit card services in China by itself.

Source: Shenzhen Daily-Agencies