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 2020. Both the credit card turnover and total repayments witnessed year-on-year declines.
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 1,447,166 at end-March 2020, equivalent to an increase of 1.4% over the previous quarter or 8.3% from a year ago. The numbers of pataca (MOP) cards, Hong Kong dollar (HKD) cards and renminbi (RMB) cards advanced year-on-year by 7.4% (to 1,008,602), 3.2% (to 98,089) and 12.8% (to 340,475) respectively.
Credit limit granted and delinquency
At end-March 2020, credit card credit limit granted by banks in Macao reached MOP40.9 billion, up 3.1% from end-December 2019 or 9.8% from end-March 2019. Credit card receivables amounted to MOP2.2 billion, of which the rollover amount totalled MOP864.9 million, representing 39.4% 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 0.9 percentage points to 2.5% when compared with end-December 2019.
Turnover and repayment
For the first quarter of 2020, the credit card turnover totalled MOP4.6 billion, equivalent to a drop of 27.2% quarter-to-quarter or 19.0% year-on-year. The cash advance turnover was MOP149.2 million, occupying 3.3% of total credit card turnover. Credit card repayments, in which payments for interest and fees are included, decreased 11.2% from the previous quarter or 9.6% from the same period last year to MOP5.5 billion.