China UnionPay Co. Ltd. (CUP), a bank card services provider, announced Thursday it has expanded its card acceptance service to five more Asian markets - Brunei, the Maldives, the Philippines, Singapore and Sri Lanka.

The new service, provided by Global Payments Asia-Pacific Limited, allows Chinese mainland tourists to pay for goods and services with their CUP cards at merchants served by Global Payments, according to a statement released by CUP.

Cai Jianbo, Executive Vice President of CUP, said CUP's new collaboration with Global Payments in five Asian markets is a great step forward for both companies in their global partnership.

"We are delighted to expand the acceptance of CUP cards to more Asian markets through Global Payments' extensive distribution network across Asia Pacific," Cai said.

"This further expands our strategic relationship with Global Payments and the new service will offer added payment convenience for the growing number of Chinese mainland travelers," he added.

Started six years ago in Hong Kong, the Global Payments' CUP card acceptance program is already in markets like Macao, Malaysia and Taiwan.

With more than 2.1 billion CUP cards in circulation and the rising number of Chinese travelling around Asia, the new service enables Global Payments merchants in those five Asian countries to benefit from rising spending by the Chinese mainland visitors, who presently pay mostly in cash.

Merchants can simply add the CUP card acceptance functionality to their Global Payments' point-of-sale terminals through a simple and free programming, according to CUP.

Ian Courtnage, President of Global Payments Asia Pacific, said Global Payments is proud to extend its regional expertise in processing CUP card transactions to more markets across Asia Pacific.

"China is contributing significantly to outbound tourism in many Asian destinations and our merchants in those markets can now welcome more Chinese mainland tourists to their establishments by accepting CUP card payments," Courtnage said.

Global Payments Asia-Pacific Limited is a joint venture between the U.S.-based Global Payments Inc. and The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited (HSBC).