Strong Measures to be Taken to Achieve the Target of Connecting Bank-Card Networks This Year

(2002-3-27) At the enlarged meeting of the "leading group for employment of IT in the banking industry" held days ago, Governor Dai Xianglong stressed that the target should be clearly defined, the responsibilities should be allocated down to specific entities, and supervision should be strengthened to ensure the target of connecting the bank-card networks and bank-card acceptance cross the nation this year. Dai Xianglong said that since the start of the "Golden Card" project called for by President Jiang Zemin in 1993, sound progress had been made in the connection of bank card networks under the guidance of the State Council and through unremitting efforts by the staff from the PBC and other commercial banks. The projected target set for the "Golden Card" project had already been achieved. By the end of 2001, the total amount of cards issued nationwide reached 383 million, increased by 38% compared with 2000. The trading volume amounted to RMB 8.43 trillion yuan, up by 86%. Direct consumption by card increased by 21% to about RMB 128 billion yuan. The RMB deposit balance in bank-card accounts increased by RMB 161.1 billion yuan to RMB 452 billion yuan, up by 55.4%. All the wholly state-owned commercial banks, joint-equity commercial banks and the postal savings offices have been connected to the national bank-card center. Among 18 city bank-card centers, 16 have been linked to the national center, therefore a nationwide inter-bank exchange network framework had been formed. In 2001, the inter-bank transactions amounted to 310 million with a total trading volume of RMB 91.98 billion yuan, up by 42% and 41%, respectively than the previous year. Among them, 2.98 million non-local inter-bank transactions were processed through the national center, with a total volume of RMB 350 million yuan, up by 89% and 87% respectively than those in 2000. Dai Xianglong pointed out that the following strong measures had been taken to promote the linkage of the bank-card network in 2001. The standardized business and technical specifications had been introduced, the coverage of the network had been extended and the types of cards accepted in the network had increased. The cards with the logo of "Yinlian" had been introduced in five cities including Beijing and Shanghai, and China UnionPay Company had been set up. The usage of the "Yinlian" cards were much more facilitated, especially in these five cities ¨C more than 90% of the local inter-bank trading and about 60% of the non-local inter-bank transactions had been successfully processed. Dai Xianglong further stressed that there remained an arduous task to be fulfilled. He urged that the PBC and the commercial banks should draw on experience from last year, and adopt specific measures to address the outstanding issues arising from the networks connection process, and seriously fulfil the tasks in 2002. He requested that: the working schedule and accountability be clarified, and tasks be seriously carried out. The projected targets for this year were "three (hundred), one (hundred) and four (forty)" ¨C ensuring connection of the bank-card networks and transregional bank-card acceptance in more than 300 cities, ensuring inter-bank acceptance of the bank-cards in more than 100 cities, and introducing and expanding "Yinlian" logo cards in more than 40 cities. The targets, set by Vice Premier Wen Jiabao at the end of last year during his visit to the card centers, must be realized. Each task should be allocated to a specific entity and a project officer. The schedules and goals for each stage should also be defined. pressing issues be focused to promote the smooth connection of the networks and the bank-card acceptance. The key point of testing the connection effect is to check whether the usage of the cards been facilitated, and whether it has promoted the economic and social development. Therefore, the work of the commercial banks should be focused at the following areas: standardized transformation of the POS machines, operation quality of the intra-bank transregional trading network, rate of the successful trading, introduction and expansion of the "Yinlian" cards. Meanwhile, efforts should be made to assistant local governments in introducing the related incentive policies and measures to promote the development of the bank-card processing and service systems. The pilot work in Beijing and Chengdu should be the focus of this year. supervision be strengthened. The commercial banks were required to draw up their work plans following unified standards, designate persons and entities bearing the final responsibilities for implementing the working schedule, and conduct inspections on a quarterly basis. Those banks that fail to fulfil the tasks on time or reach the required standards would be requested to make corrections in due course. public scrutiny be strengthened. The PBC had instructed the China UnionPay to collect feedback of the card-holders on problems occurred in using the bank-cards, and requested full cooperation from the commercial banks. Meanwhile, publicity and training efforts should be strengthened to help the cardholders learn how to use the bank-card, so as to further promote the development of the bank-card business. a

Submit Date:2002-3-27