China's Credit Card Numbers Dropping for 14 Consecutive Quarters, 120 Million Less Than Peak

According to the payment report released by the People's Bank of China this month, the number of credit cards held by Chinese consumers in the first quarter of 2026 fell to 687 million, a decrease of 9 million from the previous quarter. Since the account number reached a peak of 807 million in September 2022, it has been declining for 14 consecutive quarters, with a total reduction of about 15%, amounting to a decrease of approximately 120 million cards.

There are two parallel logics behind the slide. First, there is the consumer's active contraction, where in the context of economic slowdown, residents' willingness to consume remains sluggish, leading to a decrease in the frequency of credit card use. Second, there is the banks' proactive cleaning, where institutions carried out a centralized rectification of long-term inactive accounts, further reducing the number of existing accounts.

Analysts point out that this trend exacerbates the pressure on the already strained banking industry. The contraction of credit card business directly erodes fee and interest income, while at the same time, the scale of non-performing loans continues to rise, and the banks' profit margins continue to narrow.