By Thu Thuy - The Saigon Times Daily
HCMC – Vietnam Export Import Commercial Bank, or Eximbank, on Monday officially joined Japan’s GlobePass Alliance, allowing cardholders of the bank to enjoy international payment benefits when traveling abroad.
GlobePass, established in October 2008, is an alliance of 12 banks that issue and accept international payment cards in 11 Asian nations and territories namely South Korea, Japan, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, China, Thailand, Hong Kong, Taiwan, the Philippines and now Vietnam. 
The alliance founded by Japan-based Sumitomo Mitsui Card Company Limited aims to strengthen collaboration between financial institutions worldwide and provide benefits to cardholders and card accepting units.
Each member bank in the GlobePass will cooperate with its merchants to offer privileges such as discounts and gifts to cardholders of all member banks.
When Vietnamese cardholders plan to travel to one of the 11 destinations above, they can access the GlobePass section on the website of Eximbank then choose and print a coupon listed there. The coupon also has a map showing how to reach the good or service providers in foreign countries.
Cardholders can enjoy discount mentioned in the coupon when using international payment cards issued by Eximbank in foreign countries. Eximbank is the first and the only Vietnamese bank participating in this alliance.
According to Sumitomo Mitsui Card Company Limited, the number of cardholders in GlobePass Alliance is over 100 million, with over one million visitors from GlobePass countries traveling to Vietnam a year.
At present, there are 277 merchants that offer privileges to cardholders of the banks in the alliance via over 624 types of coupons. Eximbank alone has 35 merchants offering privileges via 43 types of coupons.
First element of Thu Thiem Tunnel immersed