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SHANGHAI - 1/13/04 - US-based Citibank and HSBC Holdings have become the first foreign banks to win approval to issue credit cards on the Chinese mainland.

The Shanghai Banking Regulatory Bureau gave approval for HSBC to issue a joint-name foreign currency card with the Bank of Shanghai, while Citibank will team up with the Shanghai Pudong Development Bank (SPDB) to issue the country's first joint-name credit card in yuan and dollars.
 
Currently, mainland travelers can only bring 6,000 yuan cash on trips to Hong Kong and are unable to use mainland bank-issued credit and debit cards. With the new cards, mainland travelers can make payments overseas in US dollars and settle in yuan through the Bank of Shanghai.

Shanghai will be the first mainland city to launch the credit card business, which will later be extended to more than 30 cities through SPDB branches.

Citibank's planned credit card will allow yuan transactions in China, giving it access to the country's promising consumer credit market.

HSBC Hong Kong's general manager Raymond Or said the bank also intended to launch a yuan credit card to Hong Kong residents for use on the mainland.

The move, Or said, "highlights Beijing's increased willingness to experiment with a looser current account regime, by facilitating an outflow of US dollars from the mainland."

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