The Monetary Authority of Macao released today the credit card statistics for the fourth quarter of 2009. The total number of personal credit cards in circulation was 359,241 at the end of December 2009, up 2.23% from the previous quarter. The numbers of Pataca (MOP) cards, Hong Kong Dollar (HKD) cards and Renminbi (RMB) cards were 287,106, 56,066 and 16,069 respectively. MOP cards, HKD cards and RMB cards witnessed respective increases of 1.95%, 0.91% and 12.82% quarter-to-quarter. Compared with a year earlier, RMB cards surged 88.98% while MOP cards and HKD cards grew 5.79% and 2.36% respectively. The recent introduction of MOP/RMB dual currency credit cards by local banks largely accounted for the marked increase of RMB cards. As at the end of December 2009, credit card credit limit granted by banks in Macao amounted to MOP6.49 billion, up 1.27% from end-September 2009. Credit card receivables reached MOP1.14 billion while the rollover amount totalled MOP0.44 billion, accounting for 38.42% 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 1.18%. In the fourth quarter of 2009, the credit card turnover rose by 14.24% quarter-to-quarter to MOP1.84 billion. The cash advance turnover amounted to MOP0.12 billion, accounting for 6.60% of total credit card turnover. Credit card repayments, in which payments for interest and fees are included, grew 5.21% from last quarter to MOP1.77 billion.
