OREANDA-NEWS. July 08, 2013. Being the first bank in China to issue over 80 million credit cards, ICBC remains the No.1 card issuer in Asia Pacific region and one of the largest four in the world, said in an announcement by the Bank.

The steady increase of new cards highlights the important role of ICBC credit cards on stimulating consumption. Just within the first four months of this year, about RMB 500 billion has been spent by clients using ICBC credit cards, a jump of thirty percent from a year ago. In China, ICBC credit cards generated the highest consumption by cardholders. Meanwhile, the total consumption by holders of ICBC debit cards rallied more than sixty percent from a year ago to RMB 1.2 trillion. ICBC also provides short-term loan for cardholders to convert potential demand to real consumption. ICBC's total outstanding credit card loans rose 32.6% from a year ago to RMB 254 billion by the end of April this year, the highest among all banks in China.

In response to the e-payment policy and market demand for upgrading consumption, ICBC launched a variety of credit card products to meet the special and diversified needs of cardholders, said an executive of the Bank. Efforts have also been made to improve card-using experience and service quality. By means of cutting trading cost and developing a "green" finance service, ICBC has been effectively pushing forward consumption upgrading, he added.

At present, ICBC credit cards are leading the way since they are safe, widely accepted by merchants in different sectors and come with an array of value-added services. An example is ICBC chip credit cards equipped with different business and financial applications. In 2012, ICBC launched the Cool Pass Card, the first PBOC 2.0-compliant chip card in China for contactless fast payment. Cardholders love to use Cool Pass Card for small-and-micro payments since all it needs is simply a wave of the card. ICBC launches the multi-currency credit cards which support 10 foreign currencies for those to make payments during business trips around the world. This innovative card product for business travelers means less cost since no currency conversion fee is incurred. The Anbang credit card jointly launched by ICBC and Anbang Property Insurance Limited in 2012 is now a top co-branded card for car users, since the card combines discount on car insurance, subsidy for gas refill, free rescue service, etc., on top of the standard credit card financial services.

In terms of improving card-using experience, all ICBC counters and self-service devices have been upgraded to accept chip cards. More POS are installed in commercial hubs and busy downtown area such as "Cultural Street", "Food Street", for acceptance of payments by ICBC cards. In addition, ICBC picks up its pace in signing up new merchants - up to 658,000 merchants as of today - covering not only every aspect of our daily life, including food, clothing, daily supplies, transportation, entertainment, but also consumers’ upgrading demands.

In order to improve service quality, ICBC sets up Telephone Banking, SMS Banking, Internet Banking and outlets as a four-in-one service channel. As the main service channel to serve credit card holders, ICBC Telephone Banking offers more than 90% credit card services and answers 150,000 calls on a daily basis. The daily average rate of attending incoming calls is over 90% within 20 seconds, the highest customer satisfaction rate among all banks in China. Meanwhile, new self-services such as online customer services, online application for credit card, online reconciliation and online temporary adjustment of credit lines are aimed at providing more and better services for cardholders.