OREANDA-NEWS. January 25, 2013. Over the past years, Agricultural Bank of China Limited (ABC) efforts in the promotion the application of financial IC cards have been remarkably successful, achieving great results in business promotion, marketing, environment renovation, and system upgrades, reported the press-centre of ABC. 

As of the end of 2012, all of ABC 37 branches are issuers of financial IC cards, thus rapidly expanding the scale of customers and operations. The number of ABC financial IC cards has now reached 21,898,400, greatly exceeding the goals set by the People’s Bank of China.

Presently, ABC issues IC debit cards and IC credit cards as required by PBOC2.0 standards nationwide, covering the full range of grades from diamond cards, platinum cards and golden cards to general use cards. In addition, ABC launched a number of other cards, including social security financial IC cards, citizen cards, campus cards, tourist cards, enterprise all-in-one-cards, mobile payment cards, and specialized industrial cards targeted for different regions.

These cards, widely used for a variety of uses, include social security, public transport, campuses of higher education, shopping malls, and travel & leisure. Branches in Chongqing, Hebei, Guangdong, Guizhou, Shaanxi, Xinjiang and Zhejiang have issued a large quantity of social security financial IC cards. Branches in Hunan, Fujian, Inner Mongolia, Yunnan, Anhui and Beijing greatly increased their issuance of standard IC debit cards, providing sound social and economic benefits.

As financial IC cards spread, bankcard uses have expanded from traditional payment to public services and small-amount fast payment, widening and deepening the opportunities for sustainable development of China’s bank card industry. For example, public services fields such as social security, travel and highway are rapidly growing markets. Wide application of financial IC cards provides them with a safe and reliable financial payment tool. Besides, being restricted by their inability for use in offline transactions, magnetic cards are difficult to use in fast food shops, automatic vending machines, groceries, subway, buses and parking lots for small-amount fast payment.

Financial IC cards, capable of offline payment and non-touching payment, overcome the shortcomings of magnetic cards, shorten the transaction time, and lower the transaction cost for merchants and cardholders, thus effectively meeting the demands for small-amount fast payment. Financial IC cards have widened and deepened the usability of bankcards, and thus, have significantly upgraded China’s bank card industry.