Industrial and Commercial Bank of China will be issuing a whopping 20 million credit cards this year compared to the 10 million it has issued last year. According to Li Weiping, ICBC credit card center head, credit card spend will also rise from 100 billion to 140 billion to 150 billion yuan this year.
Credit card use started to become common in big Chinese cities just a few years ago and Beijing is encouraging more shops and hotels to accept them, as part of an effort to improve payment services before the 2008 Olympics.
Beijing is also encouraging officials to use credit cards to pay for goods and services as a way to reduce corruption, as they can help it to trace transaction records, government and regulatory sources have said. - CNN Money
China is a great market for credit card companies because of its population. However, unlike US credit card companies, it would be harder to earn from the Chinese market because Chinese are not accustomed to rolling over their bills.
Only 2 percent of cardholders frequently roll over their bills, says Yi Wang, a partner at McKinsey in Shanghai. In the United States, the rate is 56 percent, according to 2004 U.S. Federal Reserve figures. - IHT
Chinese are a frugal or money-wise race that I can attest to because many of the millionaires in our country are mostly Chinese. However, it’s not difficult to lure the younger generations. So it’s still important to know how to use credit cards wisely and programs aimed at educating people on using credit cards responsibly should be created if Chinese credit card companies will push through with their plans.
Tags: credit card, Chinese credit card
[image from Qiao-dao-ye]
1 comment so far ↓
Hi! Nice post. It well-known fact that credit cards are becoming more and more popular. I believe it is not large amount of credit cards for such high population.
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