Ctrip develops new avenue of overseas payments

Asia's first EMV standard multicurrency travel money card has now been issued by Ctrip, China's top online travel agency, according to xinhuanet.com on March 29, 2015.

First initiated by Europay, MasterCard and Visa, EMV is a global standard that applies to the operation of IC cards, chip cards, IC card capable point of sale (POS) terminals and ATM machines when credit and debit cards are used for transactions. JCB, American Express, China UnionPay and Discover Financial have all adopted EMV.

[Photo from rfidworld.com]

Ctrip cash passport is a prepaid MasterCard that can be used in transactions in nine currencies – namely the US Dollar, British Pound, Euro, Canadian Dollar, Singapore Dollar, Hong Kong Dollar, Japanese Yen, Australian Dollar and New Zealand Dollar. There are approximately 2.1 million ATM machines and tens of millions merchants equipped with POS devices that accept the use of this electronic travel check.

Unlike credit cards, the Ctrip card is not linked to the owner's bank account, allowing it to be used for money transfers without prompting safety concerns. The card is designed for Chinese who travel overseas for educational, business or leisure purpose and wish to purchase products and services both online and offline.