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 fourth 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 1,059,382 at the end of December 2016, equivalent to an increase of 2.7% over a quarter earlier.  The numbers of Pataca (MOP) cards, Hong Kong Dollar (HKD) cards and Renminbi (RMB) cards were 747,153, 91,571 and 220,658 respectively. MOP cards, HKD cards and RMB cards witnessed respective growth of 2.3%, 4.5% and 3.4% quarter-to-quarter.  On the back of the increasing dual-currency and triple-currency cards, MOP cards and HKD cards rose year-on-year by 12.2% and 13.0% respectively, while RMB cards rose even faster by 23.2%.

Credit limit granted and delinquency

As at end-December 2016, credit card credit limit granted by banks in Macao reached MOP25.3 billion, up 5.4% from end-September 2016. Credit card receivables amounted to MOP2.5 billion while the rollover amount totalled MOP740.5 million, accounting for 29.7% of credit card receivables.  The delinquency ratio, i.e. the ratio of delinquent amount overdue for more than three months to credit card receivables, dropped from 1.51% at end-September 2016 to 1.21% at end-December 2016.

Turnover and repayment

For the fourth quarter of 2016, the credit card turnover grew 7.2% quarter-to-quarter to MOP5.0 billion.  The cash advance turnover was MOP216.0 million, accounting for 4.3% of total credit card turnover.  Credit card repayments, in which payments for interest and fees are included, grew 1.6% from the previous quarter to MOP4.9 billion.