Finance | Credit cards in circulation up 2.1 percent

The total number of personal credit cards in circulation continued to grow in the third quarter of 2016, according to statistics released yesterday by the Monetary Authority of Macao. Credit card turnover and repayments also increased from the previous quarter.
The number of personal credit cards in circulation reached 1,031,218 at the end of September 2016, an increase of 2.1 percent from the previous quarter. Analyzed by denominated currency, the number of MOP cards, HKD cards and RMB cards accounted for 730,162, 87,607 and 213,449 respectively at the end of the month.
Compared to a year ago, MOP and HKD cards rose by 12.5 percent and 9.8 percent respectively, while RMB cards – the majority of which are MOP/RMB dual-currency cards – increased by about 25 percent.
At the end of September 2016, the credit limit per card granted by banks in Macau reached MOP24 billion, a 1.6 percent increase from the end of June 2016.
Credit card receivables amounted to MOP2.3 billion while the rollover amount totaled MOP718.5 million, accounting for 31.5 percent of credit card receivables.
For the third quarter of 2016, credit card turnover grew 3.1 percent quarter-to-quarter to MOP4.7 billion. The cash advance turnover was MOP220.7 million, accounting for 4.7 percent of total credit card turnover. Credit card repayments grew 8 percent from the previous quarter to MOP4.8 billion.
The delinquency ratio – the ratio of delinquent amount overdue for more than three months against credit card receivables – edged up from 1.46 percent at the end of the previous quarter to 1.51 percent at end of September.