A new national payment system will be linked to 70 per cent of bank cards issued in China this year, allowing consumers to use automated teller machines (ATMs) of any bank branch across the country.
Card users previously were confined to using ATMs of their own banks but China UnionPay, an electronic interbank network launched in March, has linked the ATMs of all major financial institutions.
The UnionPay network will allow cardholders in 100 cities to use any ATM within their locality, while customers in another 40 cities will be able to use their cards anywhere in the country.
The China UnionPay network included almost all banks on the mainland, a People's Bank of China official said yesterday.
A domestic equivalent of the international Cirrus or Plus systems, the network would also provide the backbone of a national credit-card settlement system that would link all domestic banks and merchants to a China-only network.
About 86.1 million new bank cards were issued in the first nine months of the year - largely debit cards, central bank figures showed. Credit cards have yet to take hold on the mainland.