China UnionPay (CUP) said Monday the country saw stable growth in cross-bank bankcard transactions last year despite some adverse impacts of the economic downturn, making bankcards the most primary means of payment except cash.

According to the data released by CUP, onshore cross-bank transactions rose 21.7 percent to 6.94 billion and the transaction value stood at 7.7 trillion yuan (1.13 trillion U.S. dollars), up 66.8 percent year on year.

Data showed 15.7 million merchants, 24.1 million point-of-sale (POS) terminals, 200,000 automated teller machines (ATM) started to accept UnionPay cards last year, up 33 percent, 30 percent and 18 percent year on year, respectively.

The UnionPay cards also made great inroads outside China, as another 32 countries and regions accepted the cards in 2009, bringing the total number to 83.

Offshore transactions by UnionPay cards saw a year-on-year increase of 62 percent last year.