The Monetary Authority of Macao released today the credit card statistics for the third quarter of 2009.

The total number of personal credit cards in circulation was 351,420 at the end of September 2009, up 4.28% from the previous quarter. The numbers of Pataca (MOP) cards, Hong Kong Dollar (HKD) cards and Renminbi (RMB) cards were 281,616, 55,561 and 14,243 respectively. MOP cards, HKD cards and RMB cards witnessed respective increases of 3.20%, 0.54% and 61.10% quarter-to-quarter. Compared with the same period last year, RMB cards surged 71.35% while MOP cards and HKD cards grew 9.66% and 0.97% respectively. The introduction of MOP/RMB dual currency credit cards by local banks partly accounted for the marked increase of RMB cards during the quarter.

As at the end of September 2009, credit card credit limit granted by banks in Macao amounted to MOP6.41 billion, up 4.09% from end-June 2009. Credit card receivables reached MOP1.03 billion while the rollover amount totalled MOP0.45 billion, accounting for 43.48% of credit card receivables. The delinquency ratio, i.e. the ratio of delinquent amount overdue for more than three months to credit card receivables, was 1.32%.

In the third quarter of 2009, the credit card turnover rose by 5.63% quarter-to-quarter to MOP1.61 billion. The cash advance turnover amounted to MOP0.12 billion, accounting for 7.34% of total credit card turnover. Credit card repayments, in which payments for interest and fees are included, grew 13.37% from last quarter to MOP1.68 billion.