STRATEGIC PARTNERS
February 24, 2002
TOKYO -- Shizuoka Bank and Citibank N.A. have agreed to jointly issue a bank card in February, the first such business tie-up among banks in Japan, company sources said.
The card can be used as a cash card by depositors of the major regional bank, and it will enable Citibank account holders to obtain local currency at any of 380,000 ATMs the U.S. bank operates in about 100 countries, excluding Japan. The card also can be used as a debit card to make purchases at 2 million member stores overseas.
According to the Nihon Keizai Shimbun, Citibank aims to expand fee- and commission-based operations in Japan targeting individual customers by taking advantage of Shizuoka Bank's domestic branch network.
Citibank will receive foreign exchange commissions of about 4 yen per dollar as well as 200 yen per withdrawal at its ATMs overseas.
Shizuoka Bank will need to invest only about 5 million yen to start the new service, compared with the several tens of billions of yen that would be required to issue international cash cards by itself.
