Ping An Insurance (Group) Co. said it plans to offer credit cards next year, seeking to become the first insurer in China to diversify into a business forecast to expand more than tenfold by 2010, Bloomberg reported. As the second-biggest insurer in the Mainland, Ping An gained the access to 46 barnches in Shenzhen and a credit-card license by acquiring 89.24 percent stakes in Shenzhen Commercial Bank for 4.9 billion yuan last month. Chairman Peter Ma is seeking to build an integrated financial services business modeled after HSBC Holdings Plc, Europe's largest bank by market value, which owns 19.9 percent of the insurer. Ping An is the only Chinese financial institution offering insurance, banking, fund management, securities and trust services, said Bloomberg. ``It's a good strategy,'' said Claude Tiramani, who oversees $1.2 billion of China-related shares at BNP Paribas Asset Management in Paris, including Ping An stock. ``Not all banks have the license'' to offer credit cards, which can enhance a bank's retail business, quoted Tiramani as saying.