The Monetary Authority of Macao released today the credit card statistics for the first quarter of 2014.

The total number of personal credit cards in circulation was 767,939 at the end of March 2014, equivalent to an increase of 1.8% over a quarter earlier. The numbers of Pataca (MOP) cards, Hong Kong Dollar (HKD) cards and Renminbi (RMB) cards were 543,715, 80,300 and 143,924 respectively. MOP cards, HKD cards and RMB cards witnessed respective growth of 1.7%, 0.8% and 2.8% quarter-to-quarter. Compared with a year ago, MOP cards and HKD cards rose 12.4% and 10.8% respectively, while RMB cards registered an upsurge of 27.9% mainly driven by a 27.9% growth of MOP/RMB dual-currency cards.

As at end-March 2014, credit card credit limit granted by banks in Macao reached MOP14.6 billion, up 4.8% from end-December 2013. Credit card receivables amounted to MOP1.7 billion while the rollover amount totalled MOP540.2 million, accounting for 31.6% of credit card receivables. The delinquency ratio, i.e. the ratio of delinquent amount overdue for more than three months to credit card receivables, edged up to 0.74%.

For the first quarter of 2014, the credit card turnover decreased 4.9% quarter-to-quarter to MOP3.8 billion. The cash advance turnover was MOP192.3 million, accounting for 5.0% of total credit card turnover. Credit card repayments, in which payments for interest and fees are included, went up 7.9% from the previous quarter to MOP4.1 billion.