China issues 2.81 billion bank cards by end of September

China issued 2.81 billion bank cards as of the end of the third quarter, up 4.9 percent from the end of June.

According to China's central bank, the country issued 2.54 billion debit cards as of the end of September, up 17.6 percent year-on-year. The growth rate was 4.2 percentage points higher than that posted during the same period last year.

Some 268 million credit cards were issued by the end of September, up 3.9 percent from the end of June, the central bank added.

Credit card loans that were more than six months overdue totaled 10.65 billion yuan or 1.68 billion U.S. dollars by the end of the third quarter, up 723 million yuan from the end of June, the statement said.

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