China Unicom signs up second banking partner

By Sarah Clark • nfcworld.com • 24 August 2010, 13:01

China Unicom has signed a strategic partnership agreement with Agricultural Bank of China (ABC). The deal is expected to see the bank and the mobile operator working together to introduce a wide range of new services to ABC's customers including personal financial services, e-commerce, mobile banking and mobile payments.

China Unicom is the country's second largest mobile network operator and is already heavily committed to the introduction of near field communication technology. It is working with payments card association China UnionPay to develop NFC standards, signed up Bank of Communications in June as its launch partner for commercial NFC services and, earlier this month, signed a strategic partnership with the Chongqing Municipal Government which is aimed at turning the region into a $7bn world leader in NFC manufacturing and innovation.