Clydestone launches China Union Pay acquiring in Kenya

Clydestone, Ghana�s leading payment systems company has launched China Union Pay acquiring in Kenya in conjunction with Kenswitch and Chase Bank. Under the co-operation agreement, Clydestone a Global Partner and third party processor of Union Pay has integrated with Kenswitch to enable banks on the Kenswitch network acquire Union Pay transactions on more than 1200 Automated Teller Machines (ATMs). Chase Bank is the settlement bank. The member banks are: Imperial Bank, Family Bank, I&M Bank, K-Rep Bank, Kenya Post Office Savings Bank, Bank of Africa, Chase Bank, Consolidated Bank, Gulf African Bank, Housing Finance, Transnational Bank, Kenya Women Finance Trust, First Community Bank, Equatorial Commercial Bank, Fidelity Commercial Bank and Credit Bank Point of Sale and online eCommerce transaction acquiring will also be launched later in the year. Group Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Clydestone Paul Jacquaye said the venture marks the expansion of Clydestone G-switch into the African market in pursuance of its Pan-African Strategy. Clydestone is a 23- year old Information and Communication Technology company listed on the Ghana Stock Exchange. Clydestone provides solutions in the area of payment systems, transaction switching and outsourcing and is headquartered in Accra, Ghana with offices in Lagos, Nigeria. Kenswitch is a registered limited company that was set up by a consortium of banks under the National Payments Systems modernisation and reform process of the Central Bank of Kenya. Its terms of reference are to allow participating financial institutions to share payment infrastructure like ATMs and Point of Sale (POS) terminals so as to avoid the duplication of scarce resources. Chase Bank is a privately owned bank incorporated in Kenya in 1996. It is a conventional one stop financial institution with a focus on the Small and Medium Scale Enterprises Market. Established in March 2002, UnionPay is a bankcard association established under the approval of the State Council and the People�s Bank of China. At present, the Shanghai-headquartered UnionPay has about 400 domestic and overseas associate members. With more than 3.1 billion issued Union Pay cards by members in 29 countries and regions. It has 100 per cent market coverage in Mainland China, Hong Kong and Macau to the most comprehensive and widest network. Its network covers eight million POS terminals and 1.2 million ATMs accepted in 141 countries and markets globally by end 2012.