China UnionPay and American Express announced that they have signed a memorandum of understanding that calls for both companies to explore the expansion of their current cooperative activities.

Rumors on the Internet revealed that the Chinese B2B e-commerce group Alibaba has set up a commercial bank subsidiary, which has gained the approvals of the People's Bank of China and China Banking Regulatory Commission.

At a meeting convened by Beijing Municipal Commission of Commerce and covering sectors in Beijing in 2010, it was reported that in 2009 retail sales in Beijing were CNY530.99 billion, an increase of 15.7% year-on-year.

Chinese Internet shopping website Taobao.com has announced that it has cooperated with its sister company Alipay.com and Bank of China in the launch of a co-branded credit card.

According to Taiwan's financial regulatory department, 368 stores in Taiwan have installed UnionPay's terminals to accept bank card and credit card payments from mainland consumers.

Wal-Mart has reached a strategic cooperation agreement with the Chinese offline payment provider Lakala to provide financial services to people in 80 cities across China.