ICBC posts 33% growth in credit cards issued

ICBC card spending grew 76% in 2009 that made it world's fourth largest credit card issuer.

The Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) in 2009 issued more than 52 million credit cards, up 33 percent on year, the bank said.

For 2009 the ICBC was thus the world's fourth largest credit card issuer after JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America and Citibank, the bank said.

Credit cards issued by the ICBC also showed an apparently lower rate of non-performing advances in 2009, compared to the average international level.

According to the ICBC, the rate of its credit cards' non-performing overdraft reached 1.54 percent after falling 0.5 percentage points from that at the beginning of 2009; but that of major international credit card issuers hit 6 percent, as they were affected by the financial crisis.

Statistics indicate that ICBC bank card spending mounted to approximately 1.5 trillion yuan ($219.7 billion) in 2009, including 450 billion yuan ($65.92 billion) of credit card spending, which was growth of 76 percent year on year.

Credit card spending accounted for one-third of the market's total share, while overdrafts leapt by 115 percent on year.

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