According to statistics released today by the Monetary Authority of Macao, the total numbers of personal credit cards and debit cards issued by banks in Macao continued to rise in the fourth quarter of 2020. The credit card turnover witnessed quarter-to-quarter growth, whereas the debit card turnover recorded a decline.
Cards issued
On the back of the increasing dual-currency and triple-currency credit cards, the total number of personal credit cards issued by banks in Macao stood at 1,493,832 at end-December 2020, an increase of 0.9% over the previous quarter or 4.7% from a year ago. The numbers of pataca (MOP) cards and renminbi (RMB) cards advanced year-on-year by 4.8% (to 1,044,312) and 7.6% (to 358,178) respectively. On the other hand, the number of Hong Kong dollar (HKD) cards dropped year-on-year by 6.6% (to 91,342).
At the end of the fourth quarter of 2020, the total number of debit cards issued by banks in Macao reached 1,789,030, a growth of 2.3% over the previous quarter or 10.1% from a year ago. The numbers of pataca (MOP) cards, Hong Kong dollar (HKD) cards and renminbi (RMB) cards went up year-on-year by 7.7% (to 1,175,078), 10.6% (to 435,178) and 27.3% (to 178,774) respectively.
Credit limit granted and delinquency
At end-December 2020, credit card credit limit granted by banks in Macao reached MOP43.6 billion, up 2.6% from end-September 2020 or 9.9% from end-December 2019. Credit card receivables amounted to MOP2.6 billion, of which the rollover amount totalled MOP774.7 million, representing 29.4% of credit card receivables. The delinquency ratio, i.e. the ratio of delinquent amount overdue for more than three months to credit card receivables, fell 0.1 percentage point to 2.1% when compared with end-September 2020.
Turnover and repayment
For the fourth quarter of 2020, the credit card turnover totalled MOP5.6 billion, a rise of 9.0% quarter-to-quarter but a drop of 10.5% year-on-year. The cash advance turnover was MOP156.0 million, occupying 2.8% of total credit card turnover. The number of credit card transactions reached 6.9 million, up 11.0% from the previous quarter or 6.3% from the same period in 2019. Credit card repayments, in which payments for interest and fees are included, increased 3.5% from the previous quarter but declined 13.2% from the same period last year to MOP5.4 billion.
The number of debit card transactions other than cash withdrawals fell 6.7% from the previous quarter or 13.2% from a year ago to 752.0 thousand. The debit card turnover totalled MOP1.6 billion, a drop of 1.5% quarter-to-quarter but a rise of 42.6% year-on-year.
The release of “payment card statistics” has replaced that of “credit card statistics”. Besides publishing the statistical information of credit cards, debit card statistics have been added.
