After more than a decade of rapid expansion, the credit card business is now facing a supply-side adjustment. Annual reports from A-share listed banks show that most banks' credit card transaction volumes have declined, with the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) seeing its credit card non-performing loan ratio rise to 4.61%. Meanwhile, the latest data from the People's Bank of China indicates that by the end of 2025, the total number of credit cards and combined loan cards nationwide will have decreased to 696 million, down by 111 million from the historical high of 807 million in the second quarter of 2022, marking a new low in nearly seven years.
From the continuous shrinkage in issuance volume, the comprehensive decline in transaction scale, to the widespread rise in non-performing loan ratios, and the intensive restructuring of bank organizational structures—all signals point to the fact that credit cards will bid farewell to &#34;land grabbing&#34; and return to refined operations.
The &#34;balance sheet contraction&#34; of credit cards has become a foregone conclusion.
By the end of 2025, the issuance volume of credit cards and combined loan cards nationwide will be fixed at 696 million. This marks the third consecutive year of decline for this data and is the first time in recent years that it has fallen below the 700 million mark. Data from the People's Bank of China shows that the issuance volume has dropped from 807 million in the second quarter of 2022 to 696 million, a cumulative decrease of 111 million. In just 2025 alone, approximately 31 million cards were reduced. This scale is approaching the 686 million cards at the end of 2018, returning to levels seen seven years ago.
Data from A-share listed banks (state-owned banks + joint-stock banks) indicates that in 2025, the credit card loan balances of the vast majority of banks have declined. China Construction Bank, which was the first bank in the country to have a credit card loan balance exceed one trillion, managed to maintain this threshold in 2025, but its balance decreased by 56.9 billion yuan year-on-year, a drop of 5.33%. The credit card loan scale of Bank of China plummeted from 606.7 billion yuan in 2024 to 498.8 billion yuan, a decline of over 17%.
In terms of transaction volume, the declines for Industrial Bank, China CITIC Bank, Bank of Communications, China Everbright Bank, Ping An Bank, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, Huaxia Bank, and Bank of China all exceeded 10%, with only China Minsheng Bank (in electronic payment transaction scale) achieving a slight increase.
Gao Haoyu, a professor at the School of Finance and Finance at Renmin University of China, analyzed that market saturation has led to a basic depletion of incremental space, and the credit card industry has fully shifted from an incremental market to a stock market. Under the pressure of both effective issuance volume and performance growth, banks have inevitably chosen to reduce costs and increase efficiency.
However, banks are not &#34;lying flat.&#34; While most institutions are contracting, China CITIC Bank issued a total of 129 million cards by the end of 2025, an increase of about 6 million cards compared to the end of the previous year, becoming one of the few representatives of counter-cyclical growth. Shanghai Pudong Development Bank achieved a 5% increase in credit card loan balances, driven by a focus on promoting interest-bearing conversion penetration and auto installment business—by the end of 2025, the loan balance for credit card new energy vehicle installment business reached 29.261 billion yuan, an increase of 18.173 billion yuan from the end of the previous year. The transition from stock to increment tests the bank's ability to penetrate quality scenarios.
Fu Yifu, a special researcher at Suzhou Bank, stated that overall, the continuous decline in credit card issuance volume, with most banks contracting their issuance scale, has resulted in only a few banks achieving slight growth, but the growth momentum is limited. The general decline in transaction volume and loan balances reflects a weakening of credit card usage activity and credit demand
The rise in non-performing loans puts pressure on asset quality
Accompanying the contraction in scale is the widespread deterioration of credit card asset quality.
In 2025, several major state-owned banks and joint-stock banks saw a significant increase in credit card non-performing loan ratios. The Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) saw its credit card non-performing loan ratio rise to 4.61%, a substantial increase of 111 basis points from 3.5% at the end of 2024, becoming a major drag on personal loan asset quality. Among the six major banks, ICBC, Bank of Communications, and China Construction Bank had non-performing loan ratios of 4.61%, 2.68%, and 2.36%, respectively, increasing by 1.11, 0.34, and 0.14 percentage points year-on-year. Except for Postal Savings Bank, which achieved a &#34;dual decline&#34; in both non-performing loan ratio and non-performing balance, the other five major banks all exhibited a trend of &#34;rising volume and ratio.&#34;
It is noteworthy that Shanghai Pudong Development Bank has become one of the banks with the most significant improvement in credit card non-performing loans, with a non-performing loan ratio of 1.92% in 2025, a decrease of 53 basis points year-on-year. This differentiation reflects the widening gap in risk management capabilities and customer quality among different banks.
Fu Yifu told reporters that the widespread deterioration of credit card non-performing loans is both an inevitable result of the industry aligning with regulatory guidance and cleaning up existing risks, as well as a concrete manifestation of banks actively transforming and pursuing high-quality development, overall being in a critical transitional phase of industry adjustment.
Accompanying the industry adjustment, banks now generally believe that credit card quality is more important than scale. At a performance meeting, China Merchants Bank President Wang Liang candidly stated, &#34;In recent years, we have adhered to a 'stable low volatility' strategy, selectively choosing customer groups and preventing risks. To manage asset quality well, we accept the change of a declining proportion of credit card business revenue contribution. Therefore, the asset quality of credit card loans has remained relatively stable, with a non-performing loan ratio of 1.74% at the end of last year, maintaining a good status among peers.&#34;
China Merchants Bank Vice President Xu Mingjie mentioned at the performance meeting that looking ahead, the retail loan asset quality across the industry will still be under pressure, and retail loans, including credit cards, will face certain challenges.
The direct consequence of the rising non-performing loans is that banks are accelerating the &#34;offloading of burdens.&#34; Since the beginning of 2026, the market for bulk transfers of personal non-performing loans has continued to heat up. In January 2026 alone, licensed consumer finance companies listed personal consumer loan non-performing asset packages for transfer at the Banking Asset Registration Center, involving a total unpaid principal and interest exceeding 11 billion yuan. As the pilot period for non-performing loan transfers has been extended to December 31, 2026, the industry generally believes that the transfer of credit card non-performing assets will become a regular channel for banks to clear risks.
&#34;Return to branches&#34; accelerates implementation
In 2025, the &#34;mass withdrawal&#34; of credit card centers continued to spread. Data shows that since 2025, more than 60 credit card sub-centers across the country have been successively shut down. Among them, Bank of Communications had the highest number of closures, reaching 58, covering first-tier cities and some third and fourth-tier cities; China Minsheng Bank closed 5, and Guangfa Bank terminated operations at 3 sub-centers. Entering 2026, Guangzhou Bank and other city commercial banks also joined the ranks of closures.
The core driving force behind this wave of sub-center closures is the fundamental transformation of the bank's credit card business model—returning credit card operations to branches. Bank of Communications clearly stated in its 2024 annual report to &#34;promote the transformation of credit card local operations,&#34; while China Everbright Bank emphasized &#34;firmly returning to branches.&#34;
A year has passed, and the results have begun to show in the data.
According to the 2025 annual report of Bank of Communications, 38 branches have fully taken on the responsibilities of credit card local management, with the number of new active accounts increasing by 140% year-on-year compared to before the transformation, and the number of customers using scenario installment services growing by 155% year-on-year. Qi Ye, Vice President of China Everbright Bank, stated at the performance meeting, &#34;We have fully mobilized the power of our branches, deeply cultivated consumption scenarios, and accelerated structural optimization centered around desirable customers.&#34;
Fu Yifu believes that the trend of &#34;credit cards returning to branches&#34; is expected to continue. Currently, the credit card industry has reached a peak in incremental growth, and the extensive expansion model of independent card centers no longer meets development needs. Returning to branches can leverage the local advantages of branches to achieve more precise customer management and risk control. Its impact is mainly reflected in three aspects: first, enhancing risk control efficiency, as branches are more familiar with local customer situations and can effectively reduce cross-regional credit risk; second, optimizing customer service by achieving synergy between credit card business and other retail businesses of the branch, providing customers with one-stop comprehensive financial services; third, reducing costs and increasing efficiency by integrating existing resources of the branch, reducing the operating costs of independent card centers while enhancing customer activity and the proportion of high-quality customer groups. In addition, this model can also promote the embedding of credit card business into local consumption scenarios.
Su Xiaorui, a senior researcher at Suxi Zhiyan, pointed out that banks previously established credit card sub-centers in various locations mainly to strengthen offline customer acquisition operations through this organizational structure. However, with the digital transformation of finance and the increasing scale of mobile users, the importance of online channels is growing day by day. Furthermore, in an environment where credit card asset quality is under pressure and profitability is insufficient, such adjustments are mainly made through organizational restructuring to align with the trend of credit card transformation from the inside out

000134

512800

中证银行

The issuance of credit cards has reached a seven-year low, and banks are facing supply-side adjustments. By the end of 2025, the total issuance of credit cards and loan cards nationwide is expected to drop to 696 million, a decrease of 111 million from the peak in 2022. Most A-share listed banks have seen a decline in credit card transaction volumes and an increase in non-performing loan ratios. Market saturation has led to a depletion of incremental space, prompting banks to shift towards refined operations to meet challenges

The issuance of credit cards hits a 7-year low as banks begin localized transformation to break through