OREANDA-NEWS. October 08, 2012. The reporter learned from Industrial Bank (IB) that the number of credit cards issued by the bank formally exceeded 10 million pieces, reported the press-centre of IB.

Since the first credit card issued in 2004, IB has issued over 10 million credit cards by this August. The development of credit card of IB cannot do without “innovation”. In 2004, the credit card industry of China still remained at the sprouting stage and the environment for using credit cards has not been formed completely. As a result, credit cards were not readily acceptable to consumers. Against such background, IB opened a new path, starting by developing characteristic products. In September 2005, the bank innovatively released the first young couple credit card themed on cartoon in China – Garfield Credit Card, which won the favor of young people at a fast rate. Thus, credit cards are not cold financial products any more, and they also become a landscape pleasing to the eye in the wallets of customers.

Then, IB took a range of innovative measures. At the end of 2007, the bank released the first standard platinum credit card themed on family care in China, and in 2008, it issued the first high-end credit themed on “special VIP services” in China – YOU series platinum credit card, which gives prominence to the three themes of business travel, medical service and golf, providing individualized value-added services to high-end customers. The card has won the “2008 Best Platinum Card Prize” awarded by MasterCard International.

If we regard the period from 2004 to 2008 as the stage that IB credit card grew from a toddler into an independent walker, then IB has begun to launch drastic reform from 2009 in the field. From then on, the bank has actively driven the reform in the operating mode of credit card business, for instance, replacing the assessment based on card issuance with the assessment based on the first time of swiping to improve the effectiveness of issued cards. It has also reformed its marketing model, enabling all front-line outlets to become the main players of credit card marketing. Meanwhile, it has kept intensifying precision marketing and database marketing to improve the service quality substantially. In this way, IB has quickly extended its issuance scale of credit cards and steadily increased the trading volume, making profits in the field of credit card business.

In terms of product innovation, IB, with the identities of the first Chinese Equator bank as well as the forerunner and advocator of green finance in China, released the first low-carbon credit card in China in collaboration with Beijing Environment Exchange in January 2010, taking the lead to introduce energy conservation and emission reduction from the field of enterprise project to personal consumption. It becomes the preferred credit card product of low-carbon environmentalists as it promotes green consumption and low-carbon consumption. On that basis, the bank continued to issue the low-carbon credit card jointly with Shanghai Environment Energy Exchange, embedding the low-carbon concept into such products as platinum card and building the low-carbon model in the industry.

With this action, IB has led the new trend of green credit card in China , and also won extensive praise of the market. In May 2010, at the award ceremony of the “First Low-carbon Consumption Summit and Low-carbon Consumption • Influence of China”, IB Low-carbon Credit Card was appraised as one of the “Top 10 Brands with the Greatest Industrial Influence”; In July 2010, at the “China Credit Card Summit 2010 and the Launch Ceremony of Credit Card Testing Report by Tecent, IB Low-carbon Credit Card was appraised as the “Credit Card with Outstanding Contribution”.

From 2011 to now, IB has further pushed its credit card business to transform from extensive operation to tailored intensive operation. It has released business travel oriented co-branded credit cards represented by IB & China Eastern Airlines Co-branded Card, IB & Juneyao Airlines Co-branded Card, IB & CSA Sky Pearl Credit Card in succession to provide one-stop professional services, value-added returns and VIP service experiences for business travelers. IB & Guangzhou Mobile Co-branded Card released jointly by IB and Guangzhou Mobile is both the first financial IC card issued by the bank in conformity with the China Financial Integrated Circuit (IC) Card Specifications (PBOC2.0 standard) of the People's Bank of China and a bold attempt of the bank to carry out inter-sector application integration with a communications operator.

Considering the needs of customers to showcase their own individualities, IB released DIY credit cards, allowing customers to design the credit card surfaces by themselves. According to the individualized demands of customers, the bank such all-sided services as “IB Joy Club” high-end customer experience, tourism customization, card loss protection, and consumption with rewarded points, exerting itself to improve the experiences of customers as card users. In December 2011, the Credit Card Center of IB won the title of “Annual Bank with the Best Innovative Credit Card” in the Second China Golden Wealth Management Top 10 Ranking jointly sponsored by the magazine, Financial Money, and the Institute of Finance and Banking, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.