BEIJING - China's bankcard association, China UnionPay (CUP), announced Tuesday that all 2,600 ATM machines of Canada' s Scotiabank have begun accepting CUP cards in Canada.

This puts the total number of ATM machines that accept CUP cards to 15,000 in Canada, with the heaviest concentration found in major cities such as Toronto, Vancouver, Calgary and Montreal where Chinese often visit and most Chinese expatriates choose to live, according to the association.

CUP also cooperated with Canada' s largest payment network, Interac Association, and opened CUP cards services on ATM machines of the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, providing convenient payment services for CUP card holders who visit the country.

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Most of the ATM machines accepting CUP cards have Chinese language services. CUP card holders directly withdraw Canadian dollars from the ATM machines with deductions from their RMB (Chinese currency) accounts in China based upon the day's exchange rate.

This could save a 1-2 percent currency transfer fee, CUP said.

So far, CUP cards have been accepted in 90 countries and regions outside China.

Financial institutions in 10 countries and regions have also issued local-currency CUP standard cards, providing convenient payment services for foreigners in their work, travel and study in China.