Bank of China (Hong Kong) said yesterday that it would adjust its credit-card interest rates when positive credit data sharing was introduced in April.
Dickson So Sing-shun, general manager of BoC (HK) subsidiary BOC Credit Cards, said: 'The changes that will take place in interest rates charged on credit cards will be determined by the economic environment, our clients' standard of living and the bank's credit risk.
'It will not be something the company sets itself. Banks will have to carefully watch the market and the economy when setting the interest rates.'
The head of BoC (HK)'s credit-card issuing arm, which has 1.17 million cards in circulation, said it was too early to determine whether interest rates would be lowered or what the impact on the card approval process would be when the credit data-sharing scheme came into effect on April 1.
Some industry players believe the implementation of the scheme to allow banks to share customers' positive credit information will mean a fall in interest rates in general.
Prudence Chan, Visa country manager for Greater China, said the scheme was unlikely to have any short-term effects on card issuance in Hong Kong.
