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Strategies & Market Trends : Ride the Tiger with CD -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Cogito Ergo Sum who wrote (168372)	7/7/2009 11:44:48 PM
From: russet	Read Replies (4) \| Respond to of 312532

What does a Chinese middle person making an average of US$4000 per year do to keep up with the Chan's? :-) marketwatch.com China's overdue credit-card debt increases Alert Email Print ShareBy John Letzing, MarketWatch SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Despite China's reputation as a nation of savers, the central bank said this week that Chinese consumers are increasingly falling behind on their credit-card payments, suggesting a move toward Western-style spending. China's credit-card debt at least six months overdue rose 133% in the first quarter, though the total overdue debt was still at the relatively modest level of 4.97 billion yuan ($727.7 million), the People's Bank of China was reported as saying in a state-run media report. Accounts overdue by six months or more accounted for 3% of total outstanding credit-card debt at the end of March, a 60-basis-point rise from a year earlier, the China Daily cited the PBOC as saying in a report dated Tuesday. The PBOC warned of the potential risks of rising levels of overdue consumer debt, which come as financial institutions expand their credit card businesses, the report said. As of March 31, Chinese banks had issued more than 150 million credit cards, an average of 0.11 per person and a 42.9% increase compared to the same time last year, according to the report. However, China's credit-card use still lags well behind that of the U.S., which boasts 4.39 credit cards per person, the report said. John Letzing is a MarketWatch reporter based in San Francisco. chinapost.com.tw Q1 credit card debt up in China: PBOC China's credit card debt that was at least six months overdue rose 133.1 percent year-on-year in the first quarter to 4.97 billion yuan (US$727.67 million), the People's Bank of China, or the central bank, said in a report Monday. Debt overdue by six months or more accounted for 3 percent of the total outstanding credit card debt at the end of March, or 0.6 percentage point more than in the same period last year, the report said. It warned of potential risks of the increasing overdue credit card debt as financial institutions expanded their credit card business. As of March 31, Chinese banks had issued more than 150 million credit cards, or 0.11 card per person, up 42.9 percent year-on-year. But Chinese consumers still have relatively few credit cards, compared with 4.39 per person in the United States and 0.95 in Brazil. Outstanding credit card loans rose 87.6 percent year-on-year to 165.86 billion yuan at the end of March. wikio.com Overseas Banks Eye Huge Chinese Credit Card Market konaxis \| 01/07/2009 Overseas banks see huge profit potential in the Chinese credit and debit card markets. They can’t help but notice that Chinese banks have already issued over 1.8 billion cards. According to industry analysts, credit cards in China will grow at about 35% between 2008 and 2012. The Bank of East Asia China, a wholly owned subsidiary of The Bank of East Asia, has launched its core credit card portfolio, BEA China Unionpay Renminbi Credit Card and became the first locally incorporated foreign bank in China to issue credit cards on the mainland. BEA China offers the following variations of the Unionpay Renminbi Credit Card: classic card, gold card and platinum card. To attract more clients, the Bank of East Asia has decided to forgo the annual fee for the first year. Standard Charter bank is also about to launch a yuan denominated credit card business. On the other hand, HSBC and CitiBank have already taken a different route, a short cut, by teaming up with local commercial banks to offer co-branded credit cards. To stay ahead of the competition, Customer service of Standard Charter said "Our RMB banking transfer service is very cheap. No matter how much you want to transfer, the fee will only be 1 yuan per transaction." Not to be outdone, the Bank of East Asia is also offering free on-line banking while Citibank is offering no transaction fees for withdrawing cash from a different bank. Competition in the debit card market is also tough. Many foreign banks have already launch renminbi debit cards to tap into the huge market. With its rapidly growing middle class, consumer spending and government support, the credit market of China has the potential to grow at a much higher rate than the expected (35%). But the global financial meltdown will give some bumps to the industry.