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CKF Banking Weekly ?The development of the bankcard industry
click rate:2536 issue time:2007-03-10 08:12

Feb. 16, 2007 (China Knowledge) – The bankcard industry in China started when the Bank of China issued its first bankcard back in 1985. The industry has since changed and matured, and current major players include Chinese banks, three bankcard organizations and other specialized bankcard service companies.

With China fully opening up its banking sector to foreign competition as of Dec. 11, 2006, foreign banks are now allowed to issue bankcards and this has resulted in a boom in bankcard-related industries such as tourism, retail and e-commerce.

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Highlights of the report:
- In 2005, the global transaction value of bankcards was RMB 72 trillion, with the transaction value of bankcards in China accounting for approximately 68%. In 2006, the total transaction value of bankcards in China was around RMB 60 trillion.

- Although Visa and MasterCard still account for a big portion of the market share in China’s bankcard market, UnionPay has more market share in the debit card market.

- In 2006, 210 million debit cards were issued and 68% of them were UnionPay branded debit cards. According to UnionPay’s statistics, UnionPay’s active cards (BIN 62) accounted for 25.76% of the total number of active cards..

- Branding their bankcards will be the key strategy for banks. They will diversify their card varieties and functions, improve their marketing through providing better service, pervasive advertising, intensive training of their employees, and cooperating with more companies in different industries to issue co-branded cards.


About China Knowledge:
China Knowledge is a Singapore-based research and intelligence services company that focuses on businesses and financial markets in China. China Knowledge Press, a unit of China Knowledge, produces news stories that appear on its website, Bloomberg, ISI, Factiva and B2B website Alibaba.  Our articles are published in local newspapers and magazines while our financial reports and business guides on China are written and published in-house.