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Ping An charges ahead with credit card boom

WHILE rivals are scaling back on concerns of the economic slowdown, Ping An Bank will speed up its credit card business, senior bank officers said today.

The banking arm of the Ping An Insurance (Group) Co, the No.2 insurer in China, is aiming for 2 million new credit cards this year, up from 1.2 million in 2008, Liang Yaolan, deputy general manager of Ping An Bank's credit card division told Shanghai Daily today.

"We will open two to three new outlets this year and the geographic expansion lays a sound base for our credit card business," Liang said.

The bank has also gained special approval as the first and only bank in China to issue credit cards in cities where it has no outlets. Beijing will be the first trial city for the bank.

The bank will use telephone sales, online banking and direct sales to launch new the credit cards and will leverage 5,000 convenient stores into taking payments in the capital.

The bank is a latecomer in China's credit card market as it started the services in 2007. Ping An became famous with its 10-yuan (US$1.46) movie promotion last year to attract new card holders. A movie ticket in Shanghai costs about 60 yuan.
The bank has 1.5 million credit card users. China Merchants Bank, the leading credit card distributor in China, has a circulation of more than 23 million.

Ping An Bank last week renamed itself, deleting Shenzhen from its previous title as Shenzhen Ping An Bank to indicate its ambitions for nationwide expansion. The bank has obtained approval to extend to Hangzhou, Guangzhou, Quanzhou and Xiamen from its outlets in Shanghai, Fuzhou and Shenzhen.

Richard Jackson, president of the bank, said the bank is optimistic of China's economic growth and will keep organic growth as a major strategy.

The bank has not ruled out merger and acquisition moves though no activities are at present planned, Jackson said.

Cross-sales under the Ping An umbrella are one advantage for the bank.

Ping An group strengthened its banking capacity by merging Shenzhen Commercial Bank and foreign-sino Ping An Bank in 2007 as the group began building a three-pillar platform of insurance, banking and assets management.



 

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