Credit card competition shifts from offline to online
Our reporter Yu Yong
Recently, some media reported that the mobile phone manufacturer vivo is registering the "vivocard" trademark. Industry insiders predict that this move by vivo may be in preparation for the launch of digital credit cards.
Since the second half of last year, digital credit cards represented by UnionPay Borderless Card and China CITIC Bank Huawei Card have been launched successively.
Whether it is relying on the strong strength of card organizations or relying on the huge user base of mobile phone manufacturers, it shows that the competition of commercial banks in the field of credit cards has entered the stage of online digital credit cards from offline physical cards.
The biggest difference between a digital credit card and an ordinary credit card is that there is no physical card, but there are basic information such as a virtual card number, security code, and expiration date.
The digital credit card can not only be bound to third-party payment, but also can complete the payment with the help of mobile phone NFC.
The biggest advantage of digital credit cards is the convenience and security of payment.
On the premise of completing the face-to-face verification, the bank can realize "air card issuance" without sending physical cards.
If it is a bank's card-holding customer, it can even get the card in seconds.
In addition, because there is no physical card, the risk of card theft caused by card loss or malicious copying can be fundamentally avoided. Cardholders can also set consumption limits and consumption periods on the mobile phone, which greatly improves the security of the card.
The reporter learned during the interview that since the initial launch in September 2020, the Huawei Card user market, launched by China CITIC Bank and Huawei Wallet, has responded positively. As of the end of July this year, the number of applications has exceeded 4 million.
Huawei Card also specially launched customized features. Users can apply for customized card numbers and feature card faces, so that the presentation of digital credit cards is no longer the same, and it becomes an exclusive credit card for cardholders.
The person in charge of the Credit Card Center of China CITIC Bank said in an interview with a reporter from the Economic Daily that the launch of Huawei Card is of iconic significance. It frees credit cards from the dependence on physical cards and makes smart phones a credit card carrier, moving from physical to electronic.
After the physical card 1.0 era and the 2.0 era of binding third-party payment, the credit card has entered the 3.0 era in which the credit card and the mobile phone are combined into one.
Credit card research expert Dong Zheng believes that mobile payment is today's mainstream payment method, and bank cards are also facing the transition from "card-based payment" to "account-based payment".
Mobile payment, whether it is mobile flash payment or scan code payment, needs to be bound to a bank card, and then the payment is completed through the cooperation of a mobile terminal. The digitization of bank cards is a supplement to the physical card form and an extension of the scene in the mobile payment era.
If the cooperation between commercial banks and mobile phone manufacturers is focused on a huge user group, then the unbounded digital card launched by China UnionPay in conjunction with Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, Agricultural Bank of China, Shanghai Pudong Development Bank, etc. reflects the banking industry’s reliance on financial technology and proactively embracing digitalization. determination.
Data from China UnionPay shows that since the introduction of the Unbounded Digital Card, it has expanded the digital opportunity for commercial banks to issue cards.
Up to now, 23 banks have issued 31 unbounded cards in combination with multiple digital consumption scenarios, and the cumulative number of cards issued has exceeded 11 million.
Many industry insiders said that commercial banks are actively promoting digital credit cards, and reducing customer acquisition and card issuance costs are also important considerations.
In the era of credit card staking, offline card application was once an important channel for banks to obtain customers, and many consumers still remember the scene of small gifts with credit cards.
With the changes in cardholders' consumption habits, especially the impact of the new crown pneumonia epidemic in the past two years, the way in which offline cards are used to obtain customers has been affected.
When the epidemic prevention and control measures were the most stringent, the number of new customers in some cities dropped to a freezing point that month.
For banks, if large-scale air card issuance can be achieved, it will be of great help to the expansion of new customers and the maintenance of old customers.
In addition, it takes more than one week for a physical credit card to go from application, approval, card production, and mailing to customers.
After the whole process, the bank paid more than 50 yuan for this card.
In contrast, if a digital credit card is issued, although the requirements for the bank's digitalization and risk control system are higher, the long-term savings in labor costs and material costs should not be underestimated.
It is foreseeable that with the testing of digital credit cards and their outstanding performance, the credit card industry is moving faster and faster from physical cards to digitalization, and the pace is getting bigger and bigger.
At the same time, the application of financial technology in the credit card business has spread throughout the entire process, providing new market opportunities for the development of credit cards in the new era.
Our reporter Yu Yong