PBOC data show total credit cards and combined credit‑loan cards stood at 677
mln at end-Q2, down 10 mln QoQ and nearly 20 mln since the start of the year.
Listed banks’ interim disclosures show divergent card-stock trends; among banks
credit reporting data, ICBC, CCB, Ping An and most large lenders posted sharp
declines. Xue Hongyan, visiting researcher at SuShang Bank, said substitution
from similar products has intensified and is hitting credit cards; lagging
product innovation and product homogeneity at some banks, together with strong
competition from internet credit-pay tools such as Huawei and Baitiao, have
accelerated younger users’ abandonment of cards and materially reduced their
willingness to use them.
