The People's Bank of China (PBOC) published the operational statistics for the payment system for the second quarter of 2026.
Total Bank Cards Edge Up, Credit Cards Continue to Contract
By the end of Q2, 10.267 billion bank cards had been issued across the country. Of that total, credit cards and combined credit-debit cards stood at 677 million. That's about 10 million fewer than at the end of Q1, and nearly 20 million below the level at the start of the year. Put simply: more than 100,000 credit cards were leaving the market every day on average. And from the historical high of 807 million in Q2 2022, the overall credit card total has now fallen by roughly 130 million.
Bank Credit Card Business Diverges: Outstanding Balances Slide, New Issuance Mixed
Per the 2026 interim reports from listed banks, the six biggest state-owned commercial banks all posted declines in credit card outstanding balances at the end of the first half versus the end of last year. Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) said its credit card loan balance was 597.157 billion yuan, down 14.39% from the end of last year. But Bank of China's cumulative credit card issuance reached about 152 million cards by the end of June, up 1.76 million from the end of the previous year. China Merchants Bank also saw credit cards in circulation increase, rising by 256,300 to 97.7073 million.
Asset Quality Under Pressure: NPL Ratios Rise at Multiple Banks
On asset quality, Agricultural Bank of China and Postal Savings Bank kept their credit card NPL ratios at 2.05% and 1.45%, respectively. Fairly steady. But ICBC's NPL ratio rose to 5.37%, while Bank of Communications' moved up from 2.68% to 3.8%. Among joint-stock banks, China Minsheng Bank's credit card NPL ratio climbed to 4.22%, and Industrial Bank's reached 3.79%. China Merchants Bank recorded 23.698 billion yuan in new credit card non-performing loans in the first half, with an NPL ratio of 1.90%.
In August 2026, principal and interest tied to credit card NPL transfers totaled 12.2 billion yuan. So banks were clearly stepping up the disposal of bad assets.