Macao's credit cards in circulation up 4.7% in Q3

Macao saw the total number of personal credit cards in circulation go up by 4.7 percent over the previous quarter to 725,755 at the end of the third quarter of 2013, local media reported on Thursday, citing the latest data released by the Monetary Authority of Macao. Of the credit cards, the number of pataca cards, Hong Kong dollar cards and Chinese yuan cards were 515,956, 77,807 and 131, 992 respectively in the period, increasing by 3.6 percent, 4.9 percent and 8.9 percent quarter-to-quarter, the data indicated. As of the end of September 2013, credit card credit limit granted by banks in Macao amounted to 13.3 billion patacas (1.66 billion U.S. dollars), up 8.1 percent from the end of June 2013. The delinquency ratio, which is the ratio of delinquent amount overdue for more than three months to credit card receivable, was 0.65 percent in the period. Meanwhile, the credit card turnover increased by 5.3 percent quarter-on-quarter to 3.4 billion patacas (425 million U.S. dollars) in the period, according to the Monetary Authority.