China is rapidly ditching the centuries-old habit of paying its bills with trunkloads of cash, and making the shift to virtual forms of payment faster than any other country on earth.
Figures released by the People’s Bank of China show a sharp rise in the popularity of anything other than cash – from debit cards to credit cards to electronic wallet mobile apps. China has a staggering 4.2bn bank cards in circulation, enough for every mainlander to have at least three.
Ten times more of them are debit cards than credit cards (3.8bn compared with 391m), but credit card issuance also rose by 19 per cent in 2013, and Euromonitor predicts credit card usage will grow faster than that of other cards over the next five years. Overdue credit card debt – unpaid after six months – also leapt 72 per cent, but this is hardly US-style household debt: China’s overdue credit card debt is a mere 1.37 per cent of total credit outstanding.