(Yicai Global) Sept. 7 -- The credit card business of China’s major listed banks recovered in the first half along with a drop in the delinquency rate at most of the lenders, as the economy and consumption gradually bounce back.

China’s 14 largest listed banks by assets -- six state-owned and eight joint-stock companies -- issued more credit cards in the six months ended June 30 from a year earlier and saw the value of card transactions increase, according to their first-half earnings reports.

Agriculture Bank of China ranked first with 10 million new credit cards issued, as many as it did in the whole of last year, followed by Postal Savings Bank of China with 4.7 million. A total of 10 banks issued over 1 million new cards.

“Increased card issuance reflects the pandemic's waning impact on the credit card business, which is gradually getting back on track,” a staff member at the credit card center of a joint-stock bank told Yicai Global.

Almost 80 percent of the banks reported over CNY1 trillion (USD155 billion) worth of credit card transactions in the first six months, the data showed. China Merchants Bank topped the list with CNY2.3 trillion, an annual gain of 11.9 percent. ABC's figure jumped 31.4 percent to CNY1.2 trillion, the highest increase among the lenders.

The delinquency rate on credit cards fell at most of the 14 banks, Yicai Global calculated based on their financial reports. Of the 12 lenders that disclosed the figure in the reports, just Citic Bank underwent a slight increase.

The rate dropped to 1.1 percent at ABC at end of the first half, the lowest among the 12 banks, while PSBC was the best, cutting the rate by 0.6 percentage point to 1.2 percent.

The delinquency rate peaked between last May and June due to the pandemic. “Since last year’s second half, banks have tried hard to mitigate credit card business risks and stepped up debt collection efforts, so as to lower this year’s first-half delinquency rate,” Dong Zheng, a senior researcher in the credit card market, told Yicai Global.

The banking sector’s recovery is set to continue thanks to the credit card business of commercial banks as China's economy gradually bounces back despite a number of risk factors, Yicai Global learned.

Editors: Tang Shihua, Futura Costaglione