According to statistics released today by the Monetary Authority of Macao, the total number of personal credit cards in circulation continued to grow in the third quarter of 2016. The credit card turnover and repayments increased from a quarter ago.

Circulation

The total number of personal credit cards in circulation was 1,031,218 at the end of September 2016, equivalent to an increase of 2.1% over a quarter earlier. The numbers of Pataca (MOP) cards, Hong Kong Dollar (HKD) cards and Renminbi (RMB) cards were 730,162, 87,607 and 213,449 respectively. MOP cards, HKD cards and RMB cards witnessed respective growth of 2.1%, 1.9% and 2.4% quarter-to-quarter. Compared with a year ago, MOP cards and HKD cards rose 12.5% and 9.8% respectively, while RMB cards, the majority of which were MOP/RMB dual-currency cards, rose even faster by 25.0%.

Credit limit granted and delinquency

As at end-September 2016, credit card credit limit granted by banks in Macao reached MOP24.0 billion, up 1.6% from end-June 2016. Credit card receivables amounted to MOP2.3 billion while the rollover amount totalled MOP718.5 million, accounting for 31.5% 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 from 1.46% at end-June 2016 to 1.51% at end-September 2016.

Turnover and repayment

For the third quarter of 2016, the credit card turnover grew 3.1% quarter-to-quarter to MOP4.7 billion. The cash advance turnover was MOP220.7 million, accounting for 4.7% of total credit card turnover. Credit card repayments, in which payments for interest and fees are included, grew 8.0% from the previous quarter to MOP4.8 billion.