(Yicai) July 15 -- Keeping pace with artificial intelligence technology has become a must for most sectors, including banking. In the past month, six Chinese lenders have launched credit and debit cards bound to major AI providers for their users to access related AI services.

Bank cards are transforming from a fund settlement channel to a gateway to digital productivity, Xue Hongyan, a special researcher at Jiangsu Su Merchants Bank, a private Chinese digital bank better known as SMB, told Yicai. After accumulating points, cardholders can directly redeem the points to use AI models, making bank cards a convenient entry point for them to access cutting-edge technology, he added.

Bank of Communications teamed up with China UnionPay to issue an AI-themed debit card offering holders exclusive royalties for services from mainstream AI model developers, the lender said on July 10.

Agricultural Bank of China launched a credit card with Moonshot AI’s AI assistant Kimi on the same day to grant cardholders benefits, including agent quota, Kimi Code quotas, and agent cluster functionality.

In early July, Shanghai Pudong Development Bank, together with UnionPay and Alibaba Cloud Intelligent Group, released the SPD Credit Card, focusing on the vertical needs of AI developers and practitioners in the digital intelligence industry.

At the end of June, Ping An Bank, UnionPay, and Tencent Cloud jointly launched an AI debit card that allows holders to receive UnionPay Cloud’s TokenPlan basic computing power package and Tencent’s WorkBuddy rewards benefits.

MyBank, which boasts fintech giant Ant Group as its largest shareholder, announced on June 25 the release of China’s first AI equity card for micro and small businesses in collaboration with Alibaba Cloud, Zhima Credit, and Amap. The card offers services including token trial, content generation, customer expansion, business opportunity assessment, and store location evaluation.

On June 12, China Merchants Bank launched a credit card for AI and tech practitioners, becoming the first in the country to carry token rights. It provides a one-month MiniMax Token Plan Max, with services including a monthly usage of 1.8 billion tokens.

Most of these lenders have chosen a cooperative architecture of ‘bank + clearing or platform + AI model vendor,’ using cards as carriers, handing over AI service supply to cloud vendors or AI platforms, and leaving clearing to China UnionPay.

Editor: Futura Costaglione