The Monetary Authority of Macao released today the credit card statistics for the fourth quarter of 2010. The total number of personal credit cards in circulation was 426,976 at the end of December 2010, representing an increase of 6.02% from a quarter ago. The numbers of Pataca (MOP) cards, Hong Kong Dollar (HKD) cards and Renminbi (RMB) cards were 337,536, 59,944 and 29,496 respectively. MOP cards, HKD cards and RMB cards witnessed respective increases of 5.04%, 2.44% and 29.00% quarter-to-quarter. On an annual basis, RMB cards soared 83.56% while MOP cards and HKD cards rose 17.56% and 6.92% respectively. As at the end of December 2010, credit card credit limit granted by banks in Macao reached MOP7.65 billion, up 4.75% from end-September 2010. Credit card receivables amounted to MOP1.30 billion while the rollover amount totalled MOP0.44 billion, accounting for 33.90% 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 0.72%. In the fourth quarter of 2010, the credit card turnover grew by 23.99% quarter-to-quarter to MOP2.48 billion. The cash advance turnover was MOP0.13 billion, accounting for 5.07% of total credit card turnover. Credit card repayments, in which payments for interest and fees are included, went up 17.30% from the previous quarter to MOP2.39 billion.
