SHANGHAI -- China's banking sector has issued 469 million bank cards since first issued in 1985, according to AsiaPulse.
Officials with China UnionPay Company Limited, a Shanghai-based national payment network sponsored by many of China's major banks, said that as of late June, there were 130,000 banking outlets capable of handling bank cards.
Bank cards are used at China's 270,000 points of sale in nearly 200,000 retail outlets and at 41,000 ATMs across country, according to the report.
China UnionPay was set up in March by China's major banks in a bid to establish a unified national payment system. The system will enable bank card holders to use their cards at any terminal by the year 2005, no matter at which bank or in which city they keep their accounts.
China UnionPay will link all banks' payment systems across the country, and place its name on all bank cards and ATMs or POS.
