3 years, nearly 100 million credit cards canceled! Banks continue to adjust this service

Over the past three years, China’s credit card industry has undergone a noticeable “downsizing.”

Recently, the People’s Bank of China’s release of the 2025 third-quarter payment system’s overall operation status shows that, as of 2025 to date, the number of credit cards (credit cards and co-branded credit debit cards) is 707 million cards. According to a China Securities Journal reporter’s review, the national credit card scale has continued the prior consecutive decline trend over the course of the year, decreasing by 20 million cards from the beginning of the year; when looking at a longer time frame, over the past three years the cumulative reduction has been nearly 100 million credit cards.

Based on this year’s data compiled by China Securities Journal from multiple listed banks’ credit card business figures, the three major trends since 2025 are still continuing: first, the number of cards issued has contracted significantly, and credit card business is gradually shifting from scale expansion to quality optimization; second, the growth rate of credit card consumption has slowed markedly, and the credit card consumption market is facing some contraction; third, the asset quality of credit card loans at most large and medium-sized banks has shown clear fluctuations, while they are also accelerating the clearance of credit card non-performing “legacy burdens.”

Nearly 100 million credit cards “disappeared” over three years

On December 2, the《2025 Third-Quarter Payment System Operation Overview》disclosed by the People’s Bank of China showed that as of the end of September 2025, the number of credit cards had fallen to 707 million. According to comparisons with prior data, the number of credit cards has declined for 12 consecutive quarters, from the historical peak of 807 million cards at the end of September 2022, to date, shrinking by about 100 million cards.

Credit card business is a key focus of banks’ retail strategy, and it is also one of the important sources of fee and interest income. Against the backdrop of significantly strengthened regulation and standardization of banks’ credit card business by financial regulatory authorities in recent years, the number of cards issued, the number of customers, market share, or market ranking may not be used as a bank’s single or primary performance evaluation indicator.

In recent years, large banks that ranked among the top in the number of cards issued have also been accelerating the cleanup of “dormant credit cards,” which is also how banks respond to regulators’ requirements for dynamic monitoring and management of banks’ long-term dormant card rates. Regarding the definition of long-term dormant cards, regulators indicate it refers to credit cards with no active transactions for 18 consecutive months or more, and with the current overdrawn balance and refundable surplus payments at zero. After credit cards are gradually disposed of as dormant cards, the active-card rate improves to a certain extent.

Based on China Securities Journal’s compilation of credit card business data disclosed by some listed banks over the past two years, as of the end of the first half of 2025, major state-owned banks such as Bank of Communications, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, China Construction Bank, and Postal Savings Bank of China saw year-on-year declines in the number of credit cards issued, decreasing by approximately 4.79 million, 4.00 million, 2.00 million, and 1.00 million cards, respectively. Meanwhile, banks including CITIC Bank (601998), Bank of China (601988), Huaxia Bank (600015), and China Merchants Bank (600036) achieved growth against the trend. Among them, CITIC Bank increased by about 6.37 million cards year-on-year, while Bank of China and Huaxia Bank increased by 2.34 million and 1.80 million cards, respectively, year-on-year.

Senior credit card industry researcher Dong Zheng believes that the contraction of the credit card market is the result of the combined effects of regulatory policies, market competition, shifts in user habits, and banks’ own strategic adjustments. For example, from the perspective of market competition, changes in the payments ecosystem and competing products have impacted credit cards. Mobile payments have been deeply integrated into everyday life; supported by embedded payment scenarios, they seamlessly integrate into internet credit payment tools, which has clearly replaced traditional credit cards in small-ticket, high-frequency payment areas.

In the course of the year, 63 credit card sub-branches discontinued operations

The accelerated consolidation and clearing-out in credit card business is also reflected in the contraction and shutdown of credit-card-dedicated branches and sub-branches at some commercial banks.

According to China Securities Journal’s review of the website of the Financial Regulatory Administration, as of before the time of this reporter’s submission, a total of 63 credit card sub-branches had discontinued operations during the year, including Bank of Communications (601328), Minsheng Bank (600016), and Guangfa Bank, among others.

Specifically, Bank of Communications shut down the largest number of credit card sub-branches, reaching 56. This includes credit card sub-branches in first-tier cities such as Shanghai, Beijing, Shenzhen, and Guangzhou, which were shut down in succession over the course of the year. In addition, Minsheng Bank closed four credit card centers—North China, Northeast China, Central China, and South China—plus five others, including the Deyang branch, for a total of 5 entities. Guangfa Bank discontinued operations for the Changji sub-branch and Mudanjiang sub-branch of its credit card center.

In fact, credit card sub-centers established by banks are usually directly managed by the head office, and costs such as staffing, marketing activities, and venue operations are independent of costs borne by local branches. Setting up such specialized branches mainly flourished during the rapid development period of “race-to-claim-territory” expansion in credit card business, when banks would invest resources to develop related business in cities with market gaps.

With the credit card market entering red-ocean competition in recent years, along with further strengthening of regulatory intensity, more and more commercial banks are considering the input and output of investment in this field, and choosing to run the credit card business with meticulous planning—operating and managing it in a more “fine-grained” way.

In March 2025, at an investor meeting on Bank of Communications’ 2024 annual performance, the bank’s management addressed the “wave” of dissolutions and consolidations of credit card sub-branches in multiple locations nationwide for the first time. Its core operational thinking is “to accelerate the transformation of credit card operations toward localized management.”

The management of Bank of Communications said that in the past, the bank’s credit card business adopted a model of centralized direct operation by credit card centers, which provided distinct advantages during the rapid development phase of credit card business. However, as credit card business has moved into a new stage of development, the limitations of this model have become increasingly evident.

Based on market changes, the relevant person in charge of Bank of Communications said that, for the purpose of better meeting customer needs for integrated and comprehensive financial services, and also in order to better adapt to the requirements of credit card business developing into a new stage, the bank has reformed its credit card business model. Specifically, it has changed from centralized direct operation in the past to localized operation by branches, with branches providing one-stop, integrated financial services to customers in their local regions. It also integrates credit card business into localized retail business for unified operation.

Shutting down credit card sub-branches does not represent an exit from service; it means shifting the focus of operations. According to a person working in the banking industry who previously told China Securities Journal, after some joint-stock banks move the customers of the original credit card sub-branches to their localized branches, they can continue to provide services through an “online + offline” integrated model, embedding credit card business into scenarios such as wealth management and consumer loans to enhance customer stickiness.

Retail assets under pressure, including credit card loans

Besides weak momentum in card growth, another major trend in the course of the year is that the total transaction amount that customers use credit cards for consumption is also still decreasing. From data of some banks, even the outstanding balance of credit card loans that are still in force shows year-on-year declines.

Judging from the indicator of total consumption accumulated in the first half of 2025, China Securities Journal compiled five comparable listed banks, and the relevant data all declined year-on-year. Specifically, the consumption amount on China Merchants Bank’s credit cards was 2.02 trillion yuan, down by about 188.8 billion yuan compared with the same period in 2024. In addition, the related indicators for Everbright Bank (601818), CITIC Bank, Industrial Bank (601166), and Huaxia Bank declined by 169.3 billion yuan, 155.7 billion yuan, 111.0 billion yuan, and 70.0 billion yuan, respectively.

Another indicator is the outstanding balance of credit card overdrafts (loans). China Securities Journal compared 10 listed banks ranked relatively high in credit card overdraft balances. In the first half of 2025, except for most state-owned banks such as Agricultural Bank of China and Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (601398) that generally increased, many joint-stock banks saw year-on-year contraction. For example, the year-on-year decrease in credit card overdraft balance for Ping An Bank (000001), CITIC Bank, Minsheng Bank, and Everbright Bank was approximately 76.1 billion yuan, 45.6 billion yuan, 25.1 billion yuan, and 15.4 billion yuan, respectively.

In a report released in September this year, Deloitte analyzed that credit card consumption amounts continued to fall in the first half of 2025. Affected by the macroeconomic environment and consumption confidence, the total consumption amount of some banks’ credit cards decreased, reflecting the dual effect of both weaker residents’ consumption demand and stronger willingness to save for precautionary motives. Overall, the contraction trend in the credit card consumption market is obvious, and all banks face the challenge of declining consumption amounts.

In addition, China Securities Journal’s compilation shows that in the first half of 2025, many leading state-owned banks and joint-stock banks also saw their credit card non-performing rates rise year-on-year, with some impact on asset quality.

Specifically, the credit card non-performing rates at multiple banks including Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, Minsheng Bank, and Industrial Bank have already exceeded 3%, and Bank of Communications’ figure is close to 3%. Among them, ICBC’s credit card non-performing rate rose by 0.72 percentage points year-on-year to 3.75%; BOCOM’s increased by 0.65 percentage points year-on-year to 2.97%; China Construction Bank (601939) and Minsheng Bank increased by 0.49 and 0.44 percentage points year-on-year to 2.35% and 3.68%, respectively. In addition, Industrial Bank and Ping An Bank’s efforts to reduce non-performing rates were more pronounced, with year-on-year declines of 0.6 percentage points and 0.4 percentage points, respectively.

The Guosheng Securities Wang Jian team also pointed out in a research report released in November this year that retail loan risks at banks are currently being exposed and have not yet hit a peak. Currently, retail loans including personal housing loans, personal consumer loans, and credit card loans are among those being exposed. In recent years, the non-performing rate of credit card loans has continued to rise, but looking at the slope, the upward trend has slowed.

(Editor: Wang Zhiqiang HF013）

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