The Monetary Authority of Macao released today the credit card statistics for the first quarter of 2012.

The total number of personal credit cards in circulation was 575,445 at the end of March 2012, equivalent to an increase of 3.2% over a quarter ago. The numbers of Pataca (MOP) cards, Hong Kong Dollar (HKD) cards and Renminbi (RMB) cards were 424,775, 67,344 and 83,326 respectively. MOP cards, HKD cards and RMB cards witnessed respective growth of 2.7%, 0.9% and 8.1% quarter-to-quarter. On an annual basis, RMB cards recorded an upsurge of 122.1% while MOP cards and HKD cards grew 18.7% and 8.9% respectively.

As at the end of March 2012, credit card credit limit granted by banks in Macao reached MOP9.4 billion, up 5.4% from end-December 2011. Credit card receivables amounted to MOP1.3 billion while the rollover amount totalled MOP458.7 million, accounting for 34.6% of credit card receivables. The delinquency ratio, i.e. the ratio of delinquent amount overdue for more than three months to credit card receivables, increased slightly to 0.88%.

For the first quarter of 2012, the credit card turnover slid 2.2% quarter-to-quarter to MOP2.7 billion. The cash advance turnover was MOP148.6 million, accounting for 5.4% of total credit card turnover. Credit card repayments, in which payments for interest and fees are included, went up 8.6% from the previous quarter to MOP2.9 billion.