CITIC Bank joins hands with shopping site to launch credit card

China CITIC Bank Corp Ltd launched a co-branded credit card together with online shopping rebate website Fanli.com on Thursday to innovate the mid-sized lender's credit card business by accelerating its integration with Internet companies.

Cardholders will enjoy 1 percent cash rebates for purchases they make with the card, which can be used for shopping at more than 400 e-commerce websites and tens of millions of retailers including restaurants, hotels and shopping malls.

Cash rebates can be withdrawn at anytime or used directly for credit card payment.

The Chinese banking sector is facing greater challenges, as the pressure continues to increase amid the domestic economic downturn. With a growing number of non-bank financial institutions joining the competition in the credit card market, commercial lenders are striving to find a way out by making transition into Internet finance, combined with traditional banking services.

Lv Tiangui, president of China CITIC Bank's Credit Card Center, said: "The booming of e-commerce and integration of the Internet with traditional industries will bring revolutionary changes to the financial industry. By cooperating with Fanli.com, we'll combine our resources and open up online and offline channels."

He said the credit card center will keep exploring Internet finance and e-commerce to provide innovative products with Internet features.

Earlier this year, China CITIC Bank and JD Finance, an online investment and financing platform of Chinese e-commerce company JD.com Inc, jointly launched a co-branded credit card. The bank also established strategic cooperation with domestic Internet giants Tencent Holdings Ltd, Alibaba Group Holding Ltd and Baidu Inc.

The Chinese credit card industry developed steadily in 2014. According to the China Banking Association, a total of 460 million credit cards were issued in China as of the end of last year, with transactions totaling 15.2 trillion yuan ($2.4 trillion).