Wal-Mart to issue credit card in China

AFP, October, 2006

BEIJING (AFP) — US retail giant Wal-Mart will issue a co-branded credit card with the US-based multinational company General Electric later this week, a company official has said. "We will launch the GE Wal-Mart card this Friday, which will be offered in southern China," Huang Jianling, a Shenzhen-based Wal-Mart spokeswoman, told AFP.

"It's a dual-currency card, that can be used inside China and abroad." A separate Wal-Mart credit card issued in September by China's Bank of Communications is already in service for northern China, she added. Wal-Mart, which competes with Carrefour SA and other global retailers in China, operates 66 stores in 34 cities around the nation. According to a Wall Street Journal report last week, the retail behemoth is set to buy a Chinese...