An official with People's Bank of China, urged Wednesday that related credit-card organizations to deal with the data-leakage of Chinese holders properly.

Last week it was reported that hackers had stolen 200,000 card-holders' data including names, account numbers, expiration dates and security codes from servers in the United States.

The leak of electronic data in the United States has exposed 40 million customers worldwide to fraud, with about 20,000 local Visa and Mastercard holders at risk.

According to ICBC (Industrial and Commercial Bank of China) Peony Card Center, the first financial institution issuing bank cards in China, Mastercard had inform it that about 5,560 Chinese holders, including nearly 500 holders of Peony cards had been involved in the accident. While Visa international has not offered the number of Chinese holders yet.

The official said People's Bank of China, the country's central bank, attached great importance to the issue and had urged credit-card organizations such as Mastercard and Visa, to deal with it properly.

The central bank also urged domestic credit-card organizations to be cautious and take effective measures to prevent such accident from occurring.

Source: Xinhua