Visa International doubled the volume of its international bank cards circulated in the Chinese mainland in the past half year, driven by increasing demand from a wealthier Chinese population.

Around 2.08 million Visa international cards had been issued by domestic card issuers by the end of the first quarter of this year, said the electronic payment company in a statement.

"It is a sharp rise in comparison with 1 million cards at the end of last September and 690,000 at the end of March 2003," said the statement.

It took a decade for Visa to gain 1 million circulation of international cards in China's mainland since entering the market, said Albert Shiung, head of Visa International's China operations.

"But it took us only half a year to see another 1 million cards circulated in China, which was encouraged by the market's huge potential and people's increasing awareness of electronic payment," said Shiung.

China is expected to have more than 700 million bank cards by the end of this year, said the People's Bank of China.

MasterCard International and American Express are also vying to strike gold in China.

"China's credit card market is evolving rapidly and the increased consumer spending and purchasing power, coupled with rising foreign trade and travel, will continue to stimulate demand for credit cards," said David House, group president of American Express Co.

Source: eastday.com