CHINA UnionPay Co's expansion into 26 countries and regions by the end of 2007 more than doubled the number of merchants using UnionPay as their payment system, the company said yesterday.

UnionPay business has grown overseas as more Chinese shop aboard using domestic bank cards. In the overseas market, UnionPay cards are now accepted at 125,000 merchants, up from 50,000 a year earlier. About 365,000 automatic teller machines now accept the card, up 23 percent on a year ago. The card can also be used at 174,000 point of sales machines in overseas markets, more than double the figure for last year.

Adding to this network will be a key business goal this year as well as expanding to more countries.

"We will further expand in overseas markets which are the priority for our overseas business this year," a UnionPay official said.

UnionPay, the only wages linked bank card company in China, is battling overseas rivals like Visa and MasterCard as more affluent Chinese fly overseas for business or pleasure.

The Shanghai-based company also reported rapid growth in the domestic market.

China had issued more than 1.47 billion bank cards including debit cards and credit cards by the end of last year with more than 170 card issuers.

At the end of last year on the Chinese mainland there are 120,000 ATM and 1.18 million POS machines, the equipment that enables consumers to shop in department stores and restaurants.

China encourages the use of bank cards as a means of tracking tax records, and a way of preventing money laundering and improving its payment systems.

China will be dealing with more foreigners, who use bank cards as a daily payment method, during the Beijing Olympics this year and during the 2010 World Expo in Shanghai.

Bank card consumption is expected to account for 30 percent of the retail sales in big cities by 2008 while the figure in small and medium-sized cities will move up to at least 10 percent as the country quickens steps to boost bank card business.