Credit Card NPL Listings Hit RMB 55 Billion in 2026 as Platinum Card Risk Emerges

Since the start of 2026, 127 announcements for bulk transfer of credit card non-performing loans have been listed on the Banking Credit Asset Registration and Transfer Center Co. , Ltd. , with total claims exceeding RMB 55 billion. The listing institutions are mostly joint-stock banks and large banks, with joint-stock banks accounting for approximately RMB 43.4 billion in listed claims, or nearly 80 percent of the total. Some transfer projects show that most borrowers involved in the non-performing loans are platinum card customers. One joint-stock bank's two projects involve approximately 255,000 unlitigated claims, with weighted average overdue periods of around six years and total claims of approximately RMB 7.2 billion. Borrowers whose principal accounts for more than 80 percent are holders of platinum, simplified platinum, or premium platinum cards.

A veteran practitioner in the credit card industry said that some banks previously managed card issuance loosely, leading to the proliferation of platinum cards. Some institutions renamed former gold and standard cards as platinum cards, generally waiving annual fees, with supporting benefits weaker than standard platinum cards. Credit cards inherently have the attribute of segmenting markets and customers. Early credit cards had clear tier classifications, and the industry initially used this to achieve customer group stratification. However, after several years of development, premium cards gradually became generalized. To boost volume, many banks expanded their customer base downward, lowered applicant admission standards, and positioned platinum cards as equivalent to what gold cards used to be, making it difficult to effectively distinguish customer groups by card tier. A head of a joint-stock bank's credit card center noted that the customer groups in the asset packages are mostly ordinary customers. High-net-worth customers are relatively less likely to experience overdue payments, as such customers generally value their credit standing and are mostly converted from the bank's wealth management and private banking clients, with their existing asset positions usually already known at the credit approval stage.

A large amount of non-performing assets stems from hidden risks left by the industry's previous expansionary growth. On one hand, customer bases were excessively expanded downward. During the pursuit of volume growth, many institutions unilaterally chased card issuance scale, relaxing customer admission standards and risk control checks. On the other hand, there was excessive credit extension. For a long period, banks relied on raising credit limits to attract and retain customers, blindly granting high credit lines. In recent years, the credit card industry has been in a risk-clearing cycle, with weighted average overdue periods of multiple bulk transfer projects exceeding five years, and some projects exceeding ten years.

As of the end of the first quarter of 2026, there were 687 million credit cards and combined credit-debit cards nationwide, a decrease of 9 million from the end of 2025. This marks the 14th consecutive quarter of decline in credit card issuance. Compared with the peak of 807 million cards in the third quarter of 2022, the cumulative reduction is approximately 120 million. As the market gradually approaches saturation and incremental space continues to narrow, the credit card industry has entered a phase of stock competition. Revitalizing existing cardholders is the core of operations in the stock era. Existing customers have completed card opening and retention, with a stable customer base. Rights incentives and quality services can effectively activate card usage behavior and enhance customer loyalty. At present, most banks have not yet shifted their inherent operational mindset, still focusing development efforts on acquiring new customers while neglecting the core value of refined operations for existing customers.