The Monetary Authority of Macao released today the credit card statistics for the first quarter of 2011. The total number of personal credit cards in circulation was 448,124 at the end of March 2011, representing an increase of 5.0% from a quarter ago. The numbers of Pataca (MOP) cards, Hong Kong Dollar (HKD) cards and Renminbi (RMB) cards were 350,328, 61,848 and 35,948 respectively. MOP cards, HKD cards and RMB cards witnessed respective increases of 3.8%, 3.2% and 21.9% quarter-to-quarter. On an annual basis, RMB cards soared 105.3% while MOP cards and HKD cards rose 19.0% and 10.1% respectively. As at the end of March 2011, credit card credit limit granted by banks in Macao reached MOP7.9 billion, up 3.7% from end-December 2010. Credit card receivables amounted to MOP1.2 billion while the rollover amount totalled MOP0.4 billion, accounting for 37.7% of credit card receivables. The delinquency ratio, i.e. the ratio of delinquent amount overdue for more than three months to credit card receivables, was 0.95%. In the first quarter of 2011, the credit card turnover dropped by 7.7% quarter-to-quarter to MOP2.3 billion. The cash advance turnover was MOP0.1 billion, accounting for 5.4% of total credit card turnover. Credit card repayments, in which payments for interest and fees are included, edged up 3.5% from the previous quarter to MOP2.5 billion.
