时间：2022-10-24 12:07:35
From July 20， the People’s Bank of China， or the central bank， loosened the regulation and control of the interest rate of loans of financial institutions. A new file made it clear that all kinds of credit loans， including the individual loans for consumption and the enterprise loans， will see their interest rates get related with the market. The minimum 30% discount to the interest rate of loans， which has been used for years， was also cancelled.
The only exception was the interest rate of personal housing loans， which remains unchanged and controlled by the central bank.
But the credit card seems to be free of that system as well. After July 20， no banks pegged the interest rate of credit card to the market. This is because the interest rate of credit card was stipu- lated in an independent regulation. The Management Methods of Banking Card Business， which was issued in 1999， fixed the interest rate of credit card at 0.05% each day.
Therefore， there are increasing calls for opening the interest rate of credit card. Is it the right time to make the interest rate of credit card become market-oriented？ And what influence will it have if the market-oriented interest rate really happens？
Some experts say that the adjustment of this time started with the cancellation of the lower limit of the minimum interest rate. With the progress of the market-oriented interest rate， the commercial banks will become more close to the market， which requires the credit card business to get used to the market-oriented interest rate， so that the banks could improve the customer service and business level.
Presently， there are no differenti- ated credit card interest rates in China’s credit card industry. But each bank can provide a variety of discounts for their customers， based on their identities and consumption level， such as the return of cashes for overseas consumption， the multiple scoring for gifts and so on. Meanwhile， each bank can decide the commission of installment payment based on their own conditions. The different commission rates the banks provide for customers， as well as the various discounts， are similar to the adjustment of banks to the interest rate. They are also the embodiments of the banks’ differentiation from each other.
A director of the credit center of a shareholding commercial bank says that many big banks in the world adopted the same methods to adjust their credit card interest rate. Since the interest rate is completely based on the market in foreign countries， the way of calculating interest rate is much more complicated than in China. For example， the probability of default of different users is also taken into consideration， based on which they provide more differentiated interest rates. For some users who are believed to be more possible to default， the interest rate is higher， and of course， lower interest rate comes for the people that are less likely to default repaying the loans.
Generally speaking， the Chinese banks are using the method of calculating credit card interest rate that is common in the world. The foreign banks， which are free in the environment of market-oriented interest rate， can pro- vide more differentiated and diverse products and services. This is why China needs to turn to market-oriented interest rate in the future.
The market-oriented credit card interest rate has more advantages than mentioned above. Presently， the credit cards in China are severely homogenized. The best method to break down the boring homogenization is to provide better services， whose key rests with the market-oriented interest rate.
In foreign countries， the credit card interest rate is gradually dropping along with the change of interest rate policies of central banks in different countries. For example， in the U.S. market， cardholders with superb creditability had the interest rate of credit card drop 50% or so after the sub-debt crisis. Citibank’s Taiwan branch once lowered the circulation credit annual interest rate for those qualified cardholders from the original 12.99%-20% to 11.64%-18.75%.
There are analysts saying that the credit card industry in China is continuously improving and will finally have the flexible interest rate fixing system formed in the future as long as the construction of credit system keeps improving and the market competition keeps intensifying. The fixing of interest rate mainly depends on the social credit rating and the use of credit cards by customers. Following the guiding principle of risk control and market expansion， the banks can design a larger number of more specific and differentiated products and services.
Some experts say that the opening up of credit card interest rate contains two meaning： different interest rates for different people and dynamic adjustment according to the situation. The former allows the banks to segment their customers more accurately and scientifically based on the differentiation of interest rate fixing system. The latter means that banks can set up a proper“checking frequency” fitting the interest rate of cardholders through the credit rating model and so on， which is good for the improvement of cardholders’loyalty and the control of credit card risks.
Then， is it the right time to open the credit card interest rate to the market now？
A source close to the government says that it is not the right time to make the market-oriented credit card interest rate. This is mainly for keeping the good circulation of the credit card business. Presently， the income of credit card industry in China is pulled by two factors： the 30% drop in the charges for credit card business which took effect as of February 25， 2013 and the reduction in the annual fees of credit cards because of the intensive competition among banks.
The source worries that once the interest rate of credit card is open to the market， the cut-throat competition will emerge in the credit card business， which will affect the normal development of the credit card business.
An insider from the credit card department of a commercial bank says that the credit bank industry will be doomed if the market-oriented interest rate of credit card is adopted now. Each bank might lower the credit interest rate in order to retain and obtain customers. No banks will dare to improve the interest rate for the client groups with high risk that will lead to the cut-throat competition. At the beginning of the development period of China’s credit card industry， various banks vied to reduce or cancel the annual commissions to contend for more customers， which caused bad results and provided an unforgettable lesson for today’s credit card industry.
The 2012 financial reports of listed commercial banks showed that the transaction volume of credit cards of these banks all had great improvement last year. For example， the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China’s credit card transaction volume exceeded RMB 1 trillion. As for the income， the financial report of Industrial Bank shows that its credit card business has the income of RMB 4.01 billion， up 60.4% year on year， and its profits amounted to RMB 1.31 billion.
Many banks have the income from credit card business increase year on year and it is the same to their profits， but their income is far less than the foreign banks. Citibank， for example， has 40% of its total income come from the credit card business. In comparison， the credit card business of banks in China makes little contribution to the banks’self development. In addition， the Chinese credit card business is less than 10 years old and still in his youth period. More experiences are needed for accumulation for the better and more stable progress. Therefore， it is good for not opening the credit card interest rate at this moment.
The aforementioned director of a commercial bank’s credit card business says that the credit card business always centers on the clients to provide differentiated products and services. Even though the interest rate is only a bit market-oriented， some differentiated fixing systems are established through the transaction discounts and installment payment commissions. In the future， the reform to the interest rate will be deepened. So does the innovation to the credit card. The current situation says that it will take a while for the credit card interest rate to be fully marketoriented and this should be a step-bystep process. But the market-oriented interest rate is definitely to come true in a certain time in the future.