Bank of Communications (Bocom) has won final clearance to launch credit cards bearing its logo and that of its 19.9 per cent shareholder HSBC.
The first cards would be issued later this month, ahead of Bocom's multibillion US dollar simultaneous domestic and Hong Kong initial public offering expected by June, sources said.
Marketing of the banks' domestic currency cards as well as yuan and US dollar dual-currency cards will begin in key cities, including Beijing, Bocom's home base Shanghai, Shenzhen and Guangzhou.
This is likely to be expanded to more than a dozen cities by the end of the year, with hundreds of thousands of cards being sold through Bocom's extensive national branch network.
Credit card co-operation was key to Bocom's 14.46 billion yuan stake sale to HSBC last year, the single largest foreign equity investment in the mainland banking sector so far.
The two lenders intend to turn Bocom's wholly owned credit-card centre into an equity joint venture once regulations are relaxed to allow credit-card companies to operate independently of commercial banks and take on foreign owners.