Citi Gears Up to Launch Credit Cards in China

“HONG KONG – Citigroup is gearing up to issue its own credit cards in China this year, the latest push by a Western bank to attract Asian consumers with a growing appetite for borrowing.

In February, Citigroup (C) became the first Western institution to receive regulatory approval to offer credit cards without having to team with a local bank. Citigroup previously partnered with Shanghai Pudong Development Bank to issue plastic in China.

In striking out on its own this year, Citigroup will expand in a country that analysts expect to soon become the world’s largest credit card market, and potentially, one of the most lucrative in the future. In 2010, China’s credit card industry turned profitable for the first time, according to Lafferty Group, an industry consultant.

“When it comes to credit cards, China is a virgin market with vast opportunity,” says Michael Lafferty, chairman of U.K.-based Lafferty Group, who predicts that China will become the world’s largest credit card market by 2015…”

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