OREANDA-NEWS. August 06, 2013. Starting from 2013, ICBC spends great efforts in facilitating the usage of ICBC credit cards, enriching product functions and improving card services in order to meet customers’ needs for convenient consumption and fast payment, thus effectively pushing forward the increase of household consumption.

Customers made over RMB 750 billion in purchases with ICBC credit cards during the first half of this year, representing a jump of 28.2% over the same period of last year and ranking No.1 among all banks in China.

ICBC also provides short-term loan to cardholders to help convert potential demands into actual purchases. ICBC's total outstanding credit card loans rose 10.2% from January this year to over RMB 260 billion as of end-June. Balance of installment payments rose 9.8% from the beginning of the year to RMB 158.7 billion, accounting for 59.4% of ICBC's total outstanding credit card loans. Both figure rank No.1 among Chinese banks. By the end of June 2013, ICBC has issued nearly 83 million credit cards to over 57.8 million customers, representing an increase of about 3 million in customer numbers from the beginning of the year, remaining the largest credit card issuer in Asia Pacific and one of the four largest in the world.

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. Apart from 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’s 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 launched 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.

ICBC has installed over 1 million POS machines to improve the acceptance of ICBC credit cards. All ICBC counters and self-service devices have been upgraded to accept chip cards. In the first six months of 2013, ICBC's card acquiring turnover rose 37% from a year earlier to over RMB 1.14 trillion. More POS are installed in commercial hubs and busy downtown such as "Cultural Street", "Food Street", for acceptance of payments by ICBC cards. As of today, the 206 "Special Streets" nationwide where tourists can use ICBC credit cards to pay include the famous "Languifang Bar Street" in Sichuan's Chengdu, "Restaurant/Cultural Street" in Suzhou's Ligongdi, "Ethnic Commercial Street" in Yunnan's Dali, "Tour Street" in Guangxi's Yangshuo, "Qingmingqiao Bar Street" in Jiangsu's Wuxi. In addition, ICBC picks up its pace in signing up new merchants - up to 703,000 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. Besides, ICBC offers different options in Telephone Banking and takes the lead launching SMS customer service and online customer service to meet the diversified needs of customers. Moreover, new self-help services such as online application for credit card, online reconciliation, online temporary adjustment of credit lines, and installment payment through SMS are provided aiming at diversifying service channels and improving service quality.