In a vibrant shopping mall, a young trendy woman opened her purse and took out a fragrant credit card to pay her bill. This is a scene that will soon be seen everywhere in Shanghai. Banks in Shanghai have introduced or will introduce various individualistic credit cards such as fragrant ones and transparent zodiac ones, in order to satisfy young people who pursue individuality and novelty.

Cheng Hao, general manager of the credit card center of the China Minsheng Banking Corp., revealed that since the bank introduced transparent mini zodiac credit cars at the end of July, it has issued 1,900 such cards in about three weeks and is receiving nearly 100 applications for such cards every day. Most of those applicants are young white-collars and students.

It is learned from the credit card center of the China Merchants Bank (CMB) that in early Sept., the bank and female fashion group Rayli will jointly issue the first fragrant co-branded credit card targeting trendy females. With the help of Rayli's membership network, the card is tailor-made for females who are perspicacious in fashion and have consumption power. The first issue will dispatch 100,000 cards.

In the past, banks only paid attention to functions of credit cards and there was not much difference in appearance among those cards. With increasingly fierce competition, exploring new methods and pursuing uniqueness have become a new trend in Shanghai's bank card arena. Many banks have set an eye on "fashion."

(Chinanews.cn August 25, 2005)