Ping An Insurance (Group) Co plans to at least double its credit card circulation this year and build up the wealth management team of its banking unit, senior managers said.
Shenzhen Ping An Bank, the banking arm of Ping An Group, is a late-comer to the competitive market and a small player within it.
Ping An has nearly 300,000 credit cards in circulation in the cities of Shenzhen and Shanghai. Fuzhou is the next step in its expansions.
The credit card business is one of the key businesses that the bank wants to expand, Dominic Leung, chief insurance officer of Ping An said in Shanghai.
The bank teamed up with convenient stores as credit cards payment outlets to make up for its limited network. This is an innovation in the industry.
Wealth management is another focus for the bank.
This week, the Shenzhen-based bank opened its first wealth management center in Shanghai to offer tailor-made services to clients with financial assets of more than 400,000 yuan (US$55,866).
The bank set the assets threshold based on its current client bases, said Chen Wei, executive deputy president of the bank said.
Less than 10 percent of its current clients are qualified to be in the high-end group.
The bank is also leveraging the insurance strength of parent Ping An Insurance (Group) Co, the country's second-biggest insurer, to expand its banking business.
The bank includes free home property insurance on its credit cards and some of its wealth management products to woo clients. Ping An Group also set up a group-wide VIP center to serve high-end clients under its banking, life insurance, property and casualty insurance, securities and trust subsidiaries.
