OREANDA-NEWS.  July 19, 2013. Payment statistics in the first quarter of 2013 show that the payment system continued to operate in a stable and efficient manner, and the volume of payment transactions kept a growth momentum. Volume of fund transfer expanded at an accelerated pace.

I
Non-Cash Payment Instruments
In the first quarter of 2013, the number and volume of non-cash payment transactions totaled 11.201 billion and 371.46 trillion yuan respectively, an increase of 23.14 percent and 26.63 percent respectively year on year, accelerating 0.70 and 12.03 percentage points year on year.

1. Negotiable Instruments
Volume of negotiable instruments transactions declined further.
In the first quarter, the number and value of negotiable instrument transactions reached 178 million and 72.35 trillion yuan respectively, down 10.95 percent and 1.46 percent year on year.

In particular, the number and value of check transactions was 171 million and 65.54 trillion yuan respectively, down 11.11 percent and 1.74 percent; the number and value of commercial draft settlement transactions was 3.9468 million and 4.21 trillion yuan respectively, up 1.4 percent and 19.64 percent respectively; the number and value of bank draft transactions was 1.0267 million and 0.58 trillion yuan respectively, down 22.71 percent and 32.08 percent; the number and value of bank promissory note transactions was 1.6655 million and 1.59 trillion yuan respectively, down 12.12 percent and 14.04 percent.

The transactions of Electronic Commercial Drafts System increased rapidly. In the first quarter, the System produced 94,500 electronic commercial drafts totalling 306.016 billion yuan in value, up 58.38 percent and 78.93 percent respectively; the number and value of acceptance transactions posted 96,300 and 312.13 billion yuan respectively, up 58.45 percent and 78.26 percent; the number and value of discount transactions stood 29,000 and 144.503 billion yuan respectively, up 65.43 percent and 157.35 percent respectively; the number and value of re-discounting transactions posted 63,200 and 458.522 billion yuan respectively, up 268.76 percent and 550.35 2 percent.

2. Bankcards
The growth rate of bankcard issuance slowed down.As of the end of the first quarter, a total of 3.694 billion bankcards were issued, up 19.06 percent year on year, representing a deceleration of 2.47 percentage points from the same period of last year.

Specifically, 3.351 billion debit cards were issued, up 19.18 percent year on year; about 343 million credit cards were issued, posting a year-on-year growth of 17.85 percent. The possession rate of bankcard was 2.73 bankcards per person, while the possession rate of credit card was
0.26 credit cards per person.

The environment for bank card acceptance was improved continuously. As of the end of the first quarter, the number of merchants connected to the bank card interbank payment system was 5.1682 million, the number of POS terminals connected to the system was 7.6298 million, and the number of ATM connected to the system was 442,500, up 335,500, 512,000 and 26,900 respectively quarter on quarter. On average, each ATM covered 8,348 bank cards, down 4.75 percent year on year; each POS covered 484 bankcards, down 17.97 percent year on year.

Full report see here:
http://www.pbc.gov.cn/image_public/UserFiles/english/upload/File/2013%E5%B9%B4%E7%AC%AC%E4%B8%80%E5%AD%A3%E5%BA%A6%E6%94%AF%E4%BB%98%E7%B3%BB%E7%BB%9F_%E4%BF%AE%E6%94%B9%E7%89%88%EF%BC%89.pdf