BEJING, July 23 (Xinhua) -- The Bank of China's (BOC) 95566 hotline will add Korean and Arabic to its foreign-language services ahead of next month's Beijing Olympic Games, an official with the lender said here on Wednesday.
The hotline can currently provide service in Chinese, English, French, Spanish and Japanese. The new languages are just one new move of the bank in its role as the sole banking partner of the Games for Olympic financial services.
Yue Yi, the BOC personal banking department general manager, listed more preparations for the Olympics, saying "The bank has designated 37 outlets for special financial services for all the 37 sports venues."
"Temporary outlets have been set up at the Beijing Olympic Village, Beijing Media Village, main press center, Beijing International center and Beijing Hotel.
"The bank has opened 1,131 outlets in Beijing and the other six co-host cities. All outlets can handle foreign credit card business both in English and Chinese services. Among the outlets, 773 outlets can provide exchange services for 14 currencies.
"During the Games, non-Chinese residents can open temporary accounts at BOC outlets and the bank can provide checks and online banking services both in Chinese and English."
Currently, BOC has installed 2,262 automated teller machines (ATMs) around Olympic venue areas and 111,000 point of sales (POS)terminals at shops, restaurants and hotels, among others.
During the Games, more than 20,000 athletes and sporting officials, 70,000 working staff, 2,200 registered reporters and 7 million spectators will descend on Beijing and other cities. Such a big event will test BOC's operation capability.
"The bank has even formulated an emergency response plan to ensure its safe operation during the Games. We will try our utmost to provide satisfactory financial services for Olympiad," Yue said.
Besides Beijing, the six Olympic co-host cities are Qingdao (sailing), Hong Kong (equestrian) and Tianjin, Shanghai, Qinhuangdao and Shenyang (all football).
