Chinese own nearly 7.6 billion bank cards

BEIJING - On average, Chinese people had more than five bank cards at the end of last year as more people in the world's second-largest economy turn to non-cash transactions, according to a report from the central bank.

The People's Bank of China (PBOC) said in a report on the country's banking payment service that bank cards in use totaled 7.60 billion at the end of 2018, up 13.51 percent year-on-year.

Last year, a total of 220.31 billion transactions worth 3,768.67 trillion yuan ($562 trillion) were made through non-cash payment instruments such as commercial bills and bank cards, according to the PBOC report.

Among the bank cards in use, the number of debit cards rose 13.2 percent year-on-year to reach 6.91 billion.

PBOC data shows spending per card reached 12,200 yuan on average, up 19.06 percent from a year earlier.

Further, credit card loans that were more than six months overdue hit 78.86 billion yuan at the end of last year, accounting for 1.16 percent of the total outstanding credit loans.