Among the card issuers that have announced credit card performance, there is no doubt that China Merchants Bank’s credit card performance is the most eye-catching and transparent, showing all the important data that can be disclosed in the credit card business, such as the number of cards in circulation and number of users in circulation. number, transaction amount, loan balance, business income (including interest income and non-interest income), total non-performing loans and non-performing ratio, etc. in the market. At the same time, from these data, we can also clearly see the development trajectory of China Merchants Bank’s credit card business over the past 20 years. Through sorting and analyzing the data, the author discovered the genetic highlights of China Merchants Bank's credit card performance.

China Merchants Bank Credit Card Performance in 2021

First, China Merchants Bank issued 102.416 million credit cards, a year-on-year increase of 2.90%. Currently, China Merchants Bank is the only card-issuing bank that has issued more than 100 million cards in circulation. Although there are various definitions of circulating cards, it is generally considered to be the number of "cumulative number of cards issued minus the number of canceled cards". Compared with the cumulative card issuance volume, this data can accurately analyze the true business situation of the card-issuing bank. Since China Merchants Bank’s credit card no longer announces the cumulative number of card applications, based on the ratio of the number of circulating cards to the cumulative number of card applications, it is estimated that the cumulative number of card applications for China Merchants Bank’s credit cards is approximately 170 million, which is also among the top card-issuing banks.

Second, the number of credit card users of China Merchants Bank was 69.7394 million, a year-on-year increase of 4.54%. From the analysis of credit card business, the number of circulating accounts is the most important indicator. Whether it is the number of cards issued or the number of cards in circulation, it depends on each customer. Because the issuance of credit cards is based on the number of accounts rather than the number of cards, it is more scientific to analyze the credit card business based on the number of accounts. Calculated by dividing the number of circulating cards by the number of circulating accounts, the average number of circulating cards held by CMB credit card users is approximately 1.46 per person. This data "number of cards per capita" can more accurately reflect the true situation of the credit card market.

Thirdly, China Merchants Bank’s credit card transaction volume was 4.763617 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 9.73%. China Merchants Bank's credit card transaction volume index has been at the top since it jumped to the top in 2017 with 2.97 trillion yuan. In 2019, the data exceeded 4 trillion yuan, reaching 4.35 trillion yuan. In 2020, even affected by the epidemic, it will still maintain the level of 2019. In 2021, it will reach a new high, reaching 4.76 trillion yuan, with a growth rate of 9.73%, surpassing the second place by 1 trillion yuan. It can be seen that its business is developing rapidly.

Fourth, China Merchants Bank’s credit card loan balance was 840.301 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 12.55%. With the rapid growth in transaction volume, CMB's credit card loan balance has been growing at a double-digit rate, reaching 840 billion yuan in 2021, with a growth rate of 12.55%, narrowing the gap with the first place to 55.9 billion yuan. The author also compared the growth rate of China Merchants Bank’s credit card transaction volume and loan balance from 2017 to 2021 (Figure 1). The close relationship between the two can be seen from the data trends.

Figure 1 The relationship between the credit card transaction amount and loan balance of China Merchants Bank from 2017 to 2021 (100 million yuan)

The "signal" sent by the decline in the growth rate of card issuance

From the 2021 performance data, it can be seen that the number of CMB credit cards in circulation has only increased by 2.88 million, with a growth rate of 2.90%, the lowest in history. But if this growth rate is placed within the current market size of China Merchants Bank's credit cards, the number of cards in circulation has reached the level of "100 million", then the absolute growth and deceleration of its scale is understandable. At the same time, China Merchants Bank’s credit card circulation accounts increased by 3.03 million, a growth rate of 4.54%, exceeding the growth of circulation cards. There are currently nearly 70 million users in circulation, which is twice that of the second card-issuing bank in 2020 and four times that of the third one. Based on the estimated number of actual cardholders (families) in China thr

Customer scale is the foundation of bank credit card business, so it is necessary to pursue scale in the initial stage of credit card business, but when it reaches a certain scale, it is necessary Consider how to deliver value through operations. Therefore, it is slightly one-sided to focus on "the decline in the growth rate of China Merchants Bank's credit card issuance". By examining credit card transaction amounts and overdraft balances through card volume indicators, we can more completely observe the development trajectory of China Merchants Bank's credit card business and its impact on the development trend of domestic credit card business.

In 2021, China Merchants Bank's credit card transaction volume reached 4.76 trillion yuan, exceeding 4 trillion yuan for the third consecutive year, and has maintained its absolute number one position in domestic credit card business. If you simply look at this data, you may not feel its magnitude.

Compared with China's gross domestic product (GDP) of 114.4 trillion yuan in 2021, the transaction volume of CMB credit cards in 2021 is equivalent to 4.16% of China's GDP that year.

Another important indicator of China Merchants Bank’s credit card, “loan balance” (also known as “accounts receivable”), exceeded 840 billion yuan with a growth rate of 12.5% ??in 2021, ranking in the middle of the list of this indicator. Ranked second in the industry. The credit card balance is the amount that has not yet been repaid after the credit limit of the credit card is used by the user at a certain statistical time point. Under the normal development trend of credit card business, the loan balance is directly proportional to the transaction amount. The increase in loan balance is due to the increase in transaction amount, which can also reflect the activity of the credit card.

The two indicators of credit card transaction amount and overdraft balance are important because they generate transaction fees, overdraft interest and related non-interest income. In 2021, China Merchants Bank's credit card achieved overdraft interest income of nearly 60 billion yuan and non-interest income of 27.109 billion yuan, a total year-on-year increase of 5.14%. As a result, China Merchants Bank's credit card performance also brings inspiration to peers in the industry: the credit card business must not only consider how to issue cards, but also how to manage users and effectively stimulate users to use cards through market activities. For a long time, many card issuing banks have focused on "bringing in new customers" in the credit card business in order to expand market share, but have "loosened" operations on original users. In the "Notice on Further Promoting the Standardized and Healthy Development of Credit Card Business (Draft for Comments)" issued by the China Banking Regulatory Commission in December 2021, the proportion of sleep cards was reduced for the first time, which also prompted card-issuing banks to focus on revitalizing their stock.

On the user side, change the business awareness of “recruiting new users more than retaining them”. China Merchants Bank Credit Card attracts users to apply for and use cards through various market activities, which directly brings high transaction volume and overdraft balances. In 2021, the average transaction volume of China Merchants Bank Credit Card is 46,500 yuan, and the average transaction volume per household is as high as 63,800 yuan. .

Through data, we can review past development trends and predict future development prospects based on data analysis. From the observation and analysis of China Merchants Bank's credit card performance data, the author came up with some "bright spots", which may provide some inspiration for the future development of the credit card industry.

Stick to the direction of the retail market and improve refined services

As competition becomes increasingly fierce, the credit card market is gradually saturated, and the cost of developing new users has become increasingly high. The highest amount I have seen recently The reward for applying for a card reaches 400 yuan, which is normally 180-200 yuan. This method seems to be able to quickly acquire customers and bring a certain amount of new transactions. However, it is undeniable that applicants who apply for a card due to reward incentives may "shelve the credit card" after receiving the corresponding "card application gift". Therefore, it is unclear whether this type of customer acquisition method can bring sustainable impact. Transactions and returns are worthy of further study. According to relevant marketing research results, the cost of "developing" a new customer is several times higher than the cost of "securing" an old customer. Although this result has different calculation angles, it is indeed true, and this has been proven repeatedly by facts in many years of marketing work.

In the past two years, the credit card industry has been discussing that business development is shifting towards mining existing users, and the key lies in the existing user market. As we all know, with the gradual saturation of the credit card market, it is becoming increasingly difficult to obtain credit card customers. They can only be obtained from existing users of other banks, but this will be restricted by the "rigid deduction" policy. The "Notice on Further Promoting the Standardized and Healthy Development of Credit Card Business (Draft for Comments)" issued by the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission in December 2021 also requires banking financial institutions to reasonably set up single customer accounts based on the customer's credit status, income status, financial status, etc. The upper limit of the total credit limit of a credit card shall be included in all credit limits of the customer in this institution for unified management. Therefore, the phenomenon of "multiple credit extensions" where one person holds credit cards from multiple banks will be curbed to a certain extent. Especially for banks with high market coverage, it will become increasingly difficult to pursue growth in card volume. Then, another form of mining existing users - increasing users' transaction volume and driving the growth of loan balances, has become an important means.

Combining the growth in the number of cards in circulation with the transaction amount and loan balance of China Merchants Bank’s credit cards, it can be found that China Merchants Bank’s credit cards achieved a This has led to the rapid growth of transaction amount (9.73%) and overdraft balance (12.55%). The transaction amount can bring transaction fee income, and the overdraft balance can bring interest income. This is why China Merchants Bank's credit card business revenue has achieved positive growth for three consecutive years and exceeded 80 billion yuan.

Although the expansion of card volume has been restricted in recent years due to fierce market competition and the impact of the epidemic, China Merchants Bank Credit Card has clarified the direction and purpose of the retail market. In the credit card business, the "50% discount on Wednesdays" On the basis of this, we also launched the "Must-Enjoy on Saturday" preferential rights, continued to launch card-using activities such as "Cashback" and "Ten Yuan Storm", and launched the "Two-ticket Meeting Gift" integrating customer acquisition and management in conjunction with the meal ticket and movie ticket scenarios. and other products, forming a sustained, efficient and large-scale customer mobilization capability, which directly drove the growth of credit card transaction volume and loan balance. Therefore, from the 2021 annual performance of China Merchants Bank's credit cards, we can read its "business approach" in the era of stock competition. It not only expands the scale of users, but also seeks revenue from the market through refined services. This is also the way for the issuing bank to make its credit cards bigger and stronger. It is an inevitable choice for business, and the industry status that China Merchants Bank Credit Card has achieved over twenty years reflects the future development trend of the credit card business. Related Q&A: What are the uses of China Merchants Bank Gold Card?

1. Higher security: The golden card symbolizes that you are an exclusive customer of China Merchants Bank Gold Card, and gold cards are core cards, so they have higher security. on magnetic stripe cards.

2. Financial management services: If you want to purchase financial management products or consult financial management knowledge, each branch of China Merchants Bank has opened a special financial management service area, allowing Gold Card customers to enjoy exclusive financial management space.

3. Handling fee discounts: CMB Gold Card customers can enjoy a number of handling fee discounts when handling various settlement banking services.