BEIJING -- Losses due to credit card fraud fell 32.38 percent year-on-year to 117.88 million yuan ($18.18 million) in 2010 with the fraud ratio standing at 0.0038 percent, down 0.004 percentage points from one year earlier, the China Bank Association (CBA) announced Monday.

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By the end of 2010, delayed payments of credit cards were down 21.4 percent year-on-year to 1.6 billion yuan in 2010, the CBA said in the 2010 Blue Book for the Development of China's Banking Industry.

The transactional value of China's credit cards accounted for 32 percent of the total retail sales of consumer goods, making credit cards an important payment tool, according to the book.

The country issued 230 million credit cards in 2010, up 23.96 percent from one year earlier. Of these, about 62.31 percent of the credit cards, or 131 million, were activated, it said.