According to statistics released today by the Monetary Authority of Macao, the total number of personal credit cards issued by banks in Macao continued to rise in the first quarter of 2019.  Both the credit card turnover and total repayments witnessed growth from a year ago.  

Cards issued

On the back of the increasing dual-currency and triple-currency cards, the total number of personal credit cards issued by banks in Macao stood at 1,336,098 at end-March 2019, equivalent to an increase of 1.9% over a quarter earlier or 9.8% over a year earlier.  The numbers of pataca (MOP) cards, Hong Kong dollar (HKD) cards and renminbi (RMB) cards grew year-on-year by 9.1% (to 939,059), 6.8% (to 95,089) and 13.2% (to 301,950) respectively.  

Credit limit granted and delinquency

At end-March 2019, credit card credit limit granted by banks in Macao reached MOP37.3 billion, up 6.4% from end-December 2018 or 26.5% from end-March 2018. Credit card receivables amounted to MOP2.5 billion, of which the rollover amount totalled MOP822.3  million, representing 32.4% of credit card receivables.  The delinquency ratio, i.e. the ratio of delinquent amount overdue for more than three months to credit card receivables, rose 0.33 percentage points to 1.65% when compared with the previous reporting period.

Turnover and repayment

For the first quarter of 2019, the credit card turnover totalled MOP5.7 billion, equivalent to a drop of 6.8% quarter-to-quarter but a rise of 4.9% year-on-year. The cash advance turnover was MOP224.0 million, occupying 4.0% of total credit card turnover.  Credit card repayments, in which payments for interest and fees are included, rose 4.4% from the previous quarter or 6.2% from the same period last year to MOP6.1 billion.