Regulate credit cards

A blanket ban that the China Banking Regulatory Commission announced on issuing credit cards to students under the age of 18 does not mount to an adequate response to the rising default risks in the credit card market.

Improved regulation of the credit card market requires China's banking regulator to press commercial lenders to carefully assess creditworthiness before issuing cards while encouraging innovations to improve consumers' advantages.

The number of credit cards in China has almost tripled in the last three years to 150 million by the end of March this year because of both aggressive promotion and more adaptation to credit consumption.