China credit card payments surge in 2013

BEIJING - China's credit card transactions totaled 13.1 trillion yuan ($2.12 trillion) in 2013, up 30.9 percent from a year earlier, according to a report issued by the China Banking Association (CBA) on Thursday.

The transactional value accounted for 55.8 percent of the total retail sales of consumer goods, making credit cards an important payment tool, according to the report.

The country issued 61 million new credit cards in 2013, it said.

The CBA also warned of increasing potential credit risks.

The number of credit card repayments delayed by more than half a year were up 71.9 percent year on year to 25.19 billion yuan in 2013, according to the report.

The ratio of losses due to credit card fraud stood at 0.78 percent, up 24 basis points from one year earlier.

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