Which credit card do you find the best, as a woman? As a sports lover, which credit card serves you best?

Questions like these threw up the first credit rating by top Chinese credit card portal 51credit.com and Shanghai-based poll firm 51poll.com as they released yesterday the result of a three-month survey via Internet and telephone.

The rating, the first of its kind in the country, came from the survey of 20,000 cardholders in more than 100 cities, according to Tu Zhiyun, CEO and founder of 51credit.com.

China Merchants Bank (CMB), one of the best performing commercial banks and the largest card issuer in China, was rated the best in the general category for its popular dual-currency credit card.

Shanghai-based Pudong Development Bank was crowned the best in the platinum card segment for successfully targeting high-end clients, thanks to its close cooperation with Citibank, which holds a 3.78-percent stake in the Shanghai lender.

The country's largest lender, the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, topped the rating in the co-branded bracket for its card issued in association with China National Petroleum Corporation, China's largest oil company.

Several others got the top honors as the best credit card for women, travel, sports and best design.

The total number of credit cards in China is around 30 million, compared with 500 million in the United States.

But banks have been racing to issue credit cards since the business shifted to top gear in the country in 2003. The competition has intensified of late, with card issuers bombarding the market with cash bonuses and other gifts to win over consumers.

The growing wealth of the Chinese people has added allure to the credit card business. The number of credit cards issued is expected to double in 2007.

However, most banks are losing money in their credit card businesses as a large portion of the cards have apparently never been used since they were issued.

CMB leads in the overall business and is currently the only commercial bank to have made a profit in the segment.

The bank said the circulation of its dual-currency credit card reached 10 million by the end of 2006, a jump of 100 percent from 2005, and accounted for 35 percent of the credit card market in China.

(China Daily 03/29/2007 page13)