The 2026 Spring Festival witnessed an earlier and more vigorous start to the national consumption market compared to previous years. A wave of liquidity from the financial sector is flowing into the market with unprecedented breadth and precision. As one banking insider remarked, "This Spring Festival, financial institutions are not just 'joining the excitement' but are 'building the stage'."

According to the latest data released by the People's Bank of China, during the 2026 Spring Festival holiday, China UnionPay and NetsUnion processed a total of 39.302 billion payment transactions, amounting to 13.12 trillion yuan. The average daily transaction volume and value increased by 37.45% and 19.26% respectively compared to the 2025 Spring Festival holiday. Behind these surging numbers lies the deep penetration of banks, consumer finance companies, and payment platforms into the entire consumption chain encompassing "dining, accommodation, transportation, travel, shopping, and entertainment."

Guided by the "2026 'Happy Spring Shopping' Special Spring Festival Activity Plan" jointly issued by nine departments including the National Financial Regulatory Administration, the Ministry of Commerce, and the People's Bank of China, a nationwide campaign to boost consumption involving various types of Financial Institutions has been launched. From state-owned major banks offering inclusive benefits, to consumer finance companies providing precise support, and payment institutions building ecosystems, various Financial Institutions are embedding financial services into every capillary of consumption.

Financial support for consumption has become a standard feature of the Spring Festival. At the beginning of 2026, the jointly issued Plan set the tone for the year's financial efforts to boost consumption. However, what truly ignited the market was an even more substantial policy document.

In January, the Ministry of Finance, the People's Bank of China, and the National Financial Regulatory Administration jointly issued a document that unprecedentedly upgraded the fiscal subsidy policy for personal consumption loans. This document, referred to as "Cai Jin [2026] No. 1," had a clear core objective: to reduce the cost of consumer credit for residents.

The policy package was substantial: the implementation period was extended until the end of 2026; credit card bill installments were formally included in the subsidy scope, with an annual subsidy rate of 1 percentage point; the subsidy ceiling was significantly raised, allowing consumers to enjoy up to 3,000 yuan in subsidies per institution annually; and the number of handling institutions was greatly expanded from over 20 to more than 500, with many city commercial banks, rural commercial banks, foreign banks, consumer finance companies, and auto finance companies with good regulatory ratings gaining eligibility for the first time.

On February 11, at a press conference held by the State Council Information Office, Guo Wuping, spokesperson for the National Financial Regulatory Administration and Director of the Policy Research Department, detailed the specific measures for financial support of the "Happy Spring Shopping" activities. He summarized the policy into four aspects: "reducing costs, optimizing services, benefiting livelihoods, and strengthening guarantees."

The effects of the policy began to show after the Spring Festival. On the first day back to work, many consumers shared their credit card installment statements on social media. A consumer from Liaoning shared that for a nearly 40,000 yuan bill split into 24 installments, the bank offered a 2.1-discount installment coupon, resulting in a post-discount annualized interest rate of about 3.26%. Upon billing, an additional 1% fiscal subsidy was applied, bringing the actual annualized rate down to 2.26%. Another consumer from Jiangsu stated that after learning about the fiscal subsidies available for credit card installments, and coinciding with a bank offering a 2.1-discount on installment fees, they promptly chose to convert last month's bill into installments.

"Optimizing the personal consumption loan subsidy policy is key to stimulating consumption willingness by precisely reducing residents' credit costs through fiscal subsidies, further connecting the 'income-consumption-confidence' cycle, and aiding the recovery of domestic demand," said a representative from a financial institution.

Under policy guidance, financial efforts to boost consumption have evolved from regional, sporadic activities in previous years into a nationwide, systematic financial project benefiting the public. From major state-owned banks to licensed consumer finance companies, the entire industry has responded quickly and fully participated, making financial promotion of consumption an indispensable standard practice in the Spring Festival consumption market.

On the battlefield of Spring Festival consumption promotion, various Financial Institutions are leveraging their strengths to weave a consumption financial service network covering all scenarios and demographics.

As the main force in financially promoting consumption, the banking industry's actions show distinct characteristics of systematization and scenario-based integration. Many banks set up "Happy Spring Shopping" activity zones within their mobile apps, making it convenient for consumers to access discounts in one place.

The Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) performed particularly well. Its launched "Spring Festival Digital Consumption Platform" integrated one-stop services including payment, credit, and wealth management. During the Spring Festival holiday, the daily average spending amount bound to ICBC credit cards increased by 13% year-on-year, and the daily average number of transactions increased by 8.6% year-on-year; participating customers exceeded 20 million; the bank cooperated with over 30,000 merchants, distributing a total of 45 million consumer benefit offers. Transaction value in the culture and tourism travel scene increased by 10.3% year-on-year, and the average daily acquiring transaction value for core partner merchants during the holiday increased by 22% year-on-year.

The measures from China Construction Bank (CCB) were equally comprehensive, launching 15 special activities covering five themes: "Enjoy Culinary Delights," "Warm Your New Home," "Travel the World," "Shop from Home," and "Enjoy Life," providing multiple benefits such as WeChat instant rebates, digital yuan smart contract red envelopes, spending-based discounts, and preferential interest rates. In Guilin, Guangxi, CCB conducted the "New Year 'Travel' Luck" activity, where consumers booking trips on the "Qunar" app could enjoy instant discounts and zero-interest installments when using specified CCB Dragon credit cards for installment payments.

Bank of China deeply focused on the culture and tourism scene, launching themed activities around "dining, accommodation, transportation, travel, shopping, and entertainment," covering 108 cities across 30 provinces and collaborating with over 370 renowned food streets and characteristic blocks. From January 1 to February 28, the bank launched the "Enjoy Big Discounts on Installments, Plus Extra Subsidies" campaign, where cardholders could enjoy discount benefits on bill installments, free installments, and consumption installments, with eligible customers additionally receiving fiscal subsidies.

China CITIC Bank integrated resources to launch activities like "Watch for 9 Yuan" movies, 50% off hot pot meals, and exclusive airline and hotel offers. Catering to the demand for outbound travel during the long holiday, it offered up to 30% cashback on overseas spending and provided enhanced "replace old with new" discounts叠加 government subsidies. China Guangfa Bank focused deeply on the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, offering subsidized consumer loans and bill installments, launching a "Cross-Border Payment Pass" service for one-click remittances between mainland China and Hong Kong, and coordinating promotions with over 50,000 merchants nationwide.

Regional coordination at the local level was also significant. In Fujian, under the "Financial Promotion of Consumption, Benefiting Millions of Fujian Families" special campaign, eight banks including ICBC, Agricultural Bank of China, Bank of China, and CCB collectively released "financial lucky bags," while Fujian UnionPay partnered with various banks to distribute over ten million yuan in Spring Festival benefit red envelopes. At fruit stalls in Fuzhou, Postal Savings Bank of China staff provided "mobile banking" services, offering merchants one-stop financial services like idle fund management advice and loans without principal repayment, earning them the affectionate nickname "money bag managers."

As an important supplement to inclusive finance, licensed consumer finance companies leveraged their online and scenario-based advantages to accurately reach long-tail customers like new urban residents and young people. CCB Consumer Finance upgraded its "Replace Old for New, Receive Gifts" activity, issuing higher-value exclusive benefits to eligible CCB Fu Loan customers purchasing home appliances during the Spring Festival, while also conducting a series of New Year-themed activities, distributing millions of limited-time interest-free coupons叠加 benefits up to 288 yuan. Minsheng Consumer Finance has cumulatively served over 200 million users, nearly 100 million of whom are new urban residents; through digital "self-service" systems like "Self-Confidence" and "Self-Healing," CMB Consumer Finance provided rate reductions or interest-free services to over 15 million customers with insufficient credit history.

China UnionPay invested over 100 million yuan in funds to conduct nationwide benefit activities focused on scenarios like travel and accommodation. WeChat Pay launched the "Happy Spring Shopping - Shake for Discounts" series, partnering with merchants and banks to distribute over ten billion yuan in total benefits. It supported offline merchants in precisely distributing coupons through policies like "no entry fee, no activity commission," and established over 100 million yuan in direct incentive funds. Regarding inbound payment convenience, WeChat launched a fee waiver campaign, exempting手续费 for single transactions of 200 yuan and below, allowing overseas users to bind international credit cards from seven major card networks like VISA and Mastercard for QR code payments.

Driven by both policy and market forces, the results were plentiful. Central bank data showed that during the peak period for red envelope distribution from New Year's Eve to early New Year's Day, online payments peaked at 144,700 transactions per second, a year-on-year increase of 7.18%, hitting a record high. During the Spring Festival holiday, the average daily number and value of payment transactions processed by UnionPay and NetsUnion for inbound travelers increased by 78.10% and 44.33% respectively. Duty-free shopping in Hainan's offshore island area reached 2.72 billion yuan, a 30.8% increase compared to the previous Spring Festival holiday.

The large-scale financial campaign to boost consumption during the 2026 Spring Festival has transcended the short-term scope of holiday discounts.

Today's consumption promotion involves the synergistic effort of an entire ecosystem: "policy subsidies + bank concessions + scenario linkage." Take Ms. Chen from Shanghai as an example: after purchasing home appliances and furniture for her new apartment, she used her CCB credit card for installments. Following the optimization of the subsidy policy, she directly saved over 1,000 yuan in interest payments. Behind this benefit was the combined effect of fiscal fund guidance, the banking system's automatic subsidy disbursement, and merchant promotions.

Financial resources have moved away from "indiscriminate irrigation" and are now precisely directed towards state-encouraged sectors—culture and tourism, green home appliances, new energy vehicles—and key demographics—new urban residents, county residents. This precise targeting allows limited financial resources to achieve maximum effect.

Another highlight of this policy package was the simultaneous optimization of the loan subsidy policy for service industry business entities, significantly raising the per-household subsidized loan size上限 from 1 million yuan to 10 million yuan. This means the policy not only focuses on stimulating demand from the consumer side but also supports the supply side by reducing financing costs for businesses in catering, retail, culture, tourism, and other sectors.

The Agricultural Bank of China partnered with e-commerce platforms like JD.com and Douyin to launch "replace old with new" zones, allowing customers to叠加 government subsidies and additional bank discounts; customers achieving certain spending thresholds could participate in monthly cashback draws, with a chance to win up to 300 yuan in刷卡金.

The sustainability of consumption promotion relies on convenient mechanisms and technological empowerment. The policy requires handling institutions to optimize processes, allowing subsidies to be "automatically enjoyed"—consumers do not need to apply separately; subsidies are deducted directly upon billing. Institutions like China Guangfa Bank improved efficiency through "system automatic identification + manual review."

Digital yuan smart contract red envelopes ensured precise fund allocation, with 21,700 "Spend 100 yuan, save 50 yuan" digital yuan red envelopes in Nanjing's Qinhuai District selling out instantly upon release; UnionPay's "ticket stub economy" created new consumption scenarios—users uploading movie or event tickets could draw offline consumption vouchers, cleverly extending cultural consumption into physical consumption; institutions like CMB Consumer Finance and Minsheng Consumer Finance utilized big data and artificial intelligence to achieve precise risk management and service for inclusive customers.

A research report from CITIC Securities pointed out that during the 2026 Spring Festival holiday, the combined force of policies like replace-old-with-new programs, consumption vouchers, and the "Happy Spring Shopping" policy package led to high growth in both major consumer goods and service consumption, with the average customer spending for automotive replace-old-with-new programs rising significantly. The synchronous support for both supply and demand is forming a virtuous cycle of "residents willing to consume, merchants offering better services, and the economy gaining vitality."