Bank card frenzy

Chinese consumers spent 59 billion yuan (US$8.63 billion) in 89.17 million bank card-based transactions from New Year's Day to Saturday, China UnionPay said yesterday.

Transactions rose 55.8 percent year on year, while the value surged 70.5 percent. Spending by credit cards was 16.5 billion yuan, up 89 percent. Bank cards took up 25 percent of retail sales.