ZAGREB - UnionPay International, a subsidiary of China UnionPay (CUP), signed cooperation agreements with the Croatian Privredna banka Zagreb (PBZ) Group and Intesa Sanpaolo Card (ISPC) on Monday.

The deal will facilitate the use of CUP cards through the PBZ network in Croatia and ISPC's services in the central and eastern European market.

The signing ceremony in PBZ's headquarters in Zagreb was attended by Shi Wenchao, president of China UnionPay, Dinko Lucic, member of the PBZ management board and president of PBZ card supervisory board, Zdenek Houser, president of ISPC, as well as Deng Ying, the Chinese Ambassador to Croatia.

PBZ is the first Croatian bank to welcome China UnionPay cards,

which are already accepted in 20 countries across Europe and more than 140 countries and regions worldwide.

Under the agreement signed by PBZ and UnionPay International, UnionPay cards will be accepted both at PBZ's ATM network in the first quarter of 2015 and gradually as well as the POS network of nearly 30,000 businesses collaborating with the PBZ, bringing the UnionPay card acceptance coverage to 20 percent of ATMs and 30 percent of merchants in Croatia.

ISPC will also promote the UnionPay card acceptance by the branches of Intesa Sanpaolo Group, one of the top banking groups in Europe, in Central and Eastern European countries.

Shi Wenchao said that Croatia and the Central and Eastern European counties becoming a destination favored by Chinese tourists has triggered great demand for cross-border payment services.

The PBZ Group, a member of the Intesa Sanpaolo Group, is one of largest industry players in Croatia with 2.1 million cards issued and 28 percent coverage in the local market. ISPC is an institution providing card transaction processing services to nine banks under the Intesa Sanpaolo Group.