GLOBAL banking executives see a bright future for China's credit card industry, but profits probably won't start pouring in for at least three years, an industry survey found.

Eighty-five percent of respondents believed the prospects for credit cards are either highly or somewhat promising, according to a survey released yesterday by the Economist Intelligence Unit and First Data International.

"With over one billion cards now in circulation in China - and more than 200 million new cards issued in 2006 alone - it is not surprising that retail bankers are optimistic about credit cards as well as bank accounts," the study said.

Bigger bite

Most cards are debit cards, but China has also issued more than 50 million credit cards. Domestic lenders such as China Merchants Bank, the Bank of Communications (stock code:601328) and the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (stock code:601398)are gearing up to take a bigger bite of the market.

Overseas banks including the Bank of East Asia and Standard Chartered Bank are also preparing to launch yuan-backed credit cards on the Chinese mainland.

The optimism found in the survey was accompanied by a strong dose of realism.

Forty-three percent of retail bankers agreed that it will be difficult to make a profit in the credit card market over the next three years as a result of tough competition and other factors.