China four largest commercial banks have launched emergency plans to protect over 8,000 Visa and MasterCard holders on the mainland affected by a security breach.

Last week, the computerized personal data of Visa International and MasterCard International, the biggest credit-card brands, was breached, exposing 40 million cards to fraud.

China Construction Bank is contacting its 300 cardholders.

Huang Yong works with the bank's credit department. He says they keeping in close contact with Visa International and MasterCard International about the latest developments.

"At the moment, 70% of the card holders are now renewing their cards. Some of the card holders are now in foreign countries and we're providing transaction supervision for them," Huang said.
 
The Industrial and Commercial Bank of China is also urging its nearly 500 cardholders to exchange their cards.

So far, no cases of credit card fraud have been reported at either of the two banks or the Bank of China and Agricultural Bank of China, since the breach. The Banks have promised to adopt further protective measures.

(CRI.com June 25, 2005)