Originally Posted by
kebosabi
Cool. Does it actually work in places where Union Pay is accepted? Did they allow you to open the account in person in Canada, and can anyone do it?
It'll work pretty much anywhere a China-issued UnionPay card would, so yeah, it's nice for that. The only thing is I haven't tried it at an ATM since I've got zero-fee UnionPay cards issued in China while this costs a flat $5 per withdrawal.
If you want it, you just walk up to any of their branches in Canada, the issue being that they have less than ten and only two in Vancouver (where I opened up my account). Passport and proof of address were all they needed from me, though they did tell me I could only get a savings account- checking accounts and credit cards are apparently for Canadian residents only, though their credit card isn't terribly useful (their credit card is UnionPay-only, even though acceptance is even more limited than in the US).