Playing the right cards

By Zhang Fengming  |   2008-8-8  |     NEWSPAPER EDITION

CHINA CITIC Bank wants to have 10 million credit cards circulating next year, a year ahead of its previous target, a senior bank official said yesterday.

The Beijing-based bank has issued more than 6 million credit cards so far and it is very confident of hitting the 10-million mark next year, said Wang Ningqiao, vice president of the bank's credit card center, yesterday in Shanghai.

The bank said earlier that it intended to make the 10-million mark by 2010.

"We didn't aim for a large number but were targeting a growing number of qualified clients," said Wang.

The bank has made a breakthrough with upmarket consumers. It has been an early player in issuing platinum credit cards, aiming for high-income clients. Upmarket clients, female clients and business card holders are some of the key groups the bank wants to concentrate on rather than expanding blindly in search of increasing figures, he told Shanghai Daily.

The bank's credit card numbers skyrocketed by more than 200 percent last year. Its credit card center started to make profit last year and the profits forecast for this year are quite satisfactory, said Wang.

The bank was ranked eighth in the Chinese mainland's credit card market, according to China UnionPay Co's statistics.

More banks are sensing the business potential of credit cards with the growing middle class on China's mainland. The push by the authorities for the use of bank cards rather than cash to avoid tax avoidance and ensure security has helped build the market on the mainland.