Bank card transactions topped 44.34 million in China in the seven days ending yesterday, said China UnionPay, the country's sole bank card transaction system operator. The transaction value surged 56.1 percent to 18.4 billion yuan (US$2.4 billion) in the period.

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Most of the transactions were focused on catering, entertainment and traveling in China, the Shanghai-based company said.

Overseas shopping helped to push up overseas bank card transactions, which grew as more Chinese went overseas to spend the traditional holiday.

Overseas bank card transactions surged 61.4 percent to 373,900 with the value rising 64.5 percent to 1.12 billion yuan in the period, said UnionPay.

The single-day overseas transaction record happened on Friday when the value topped 230 million yuan.

UnionPay has forayed into 24 countries and regions including Hong Kong, Germany, the United States and Japan. The company plans to expand into five to six more countries this year including the United Kingdom and Egypt.

China UnionPay Co expects a double-digit growth in its overseas card-based transactions this year as more Chinese travel aboard.

Bank card-based transactions topped 25.5 billion yuan last year in overseas markets, nearly double the level a year ago.

At the end of 2006, 58,074 overseas merchants accepted UnionPay cards, whether debit or credit cards, with 85,038 points of sale and 298,829 automatic machines.

Unionpay is China's sole bank card transaction system operator. It was set up in March 2002 with a registered capital of 1.65 billion yuan by 80-plus financial institutions including the country's big-four state-owned banks and other major commercial lenders.

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