SHANGHAI, Sept.13(Xinhuanet)-- Citibank and China Union Pay announced Tuesday in Shanghai to form a strategic alliance.

Agent business for ATM will be their first cooperation program.

An official with China Union Pay said that after the upgrading of the RMB card systems, card holders of China Union Pay will be able to get cash of foreign currencies from the Citibank ATM networks in more than 50 countries.

It also enables Citibank card holders to obtain cash and inquiry services at the nearly 8,000 ATMs run by China Union Pay.

It's the first time for China Union Pay, with 800 million banking cards in use, to carry on such strategic cooperation with foreign investment banks, noted Liu Yongchun, vice president of China Union Pay.

William Rhodes, chairman of the Citibank, said that China has provided largest and most important investment opportunity to his bank, next only to the United States.

He noted that the Citibank is considering to expand its investment in China. As one of the strategic investors of Shanghai Pudong Development Bank, he said the Citibank will strive to increase its shares from less than 5 percent now to 19.9 percent in the coming months, reaching the ceiling set by the Chinese government for a foreign bank in a Chinese bank. Enditem