Macao saw the total number of personal credit cards in circulation went up by 4.11 percent quarter-to-quarter to 383,246 in the second quarter of 2010, according to the figures released on Thursday by the Monetary Authority of Macao.

Of the credit cards, the numbers of pataca cards, Hong Kong dollar (HKD) cards and RMB cards amounted to 307,620, 57,117 and 18,509 respectively, the figures indicated.

Compared with a year earlier, RMB cards surged by 109.35 percent while pataca cards and HKD cards grew by 12.73 percent and 3.35 percent respectively in the period. The Monetary Authority said that the introduction of pataca/RMB dual currency credit cards by local banks in the second half of 2009 largely accounted for the marked increase of RMB cards.

As at the end of June 2010, credit limit granted by banks in Macao amounted to 6.88 billion patacas (860 million U.S. dollars), an increase of 3.37 percent over the end of March 2010, according to the Authority.

Credit card receivables reached 1.13 billion patacas (141 million dollars) with the delinquency ratio, which is the ratio of delinquent amount overdue for more than three months to credit card receivables, standing at 1.19 percent.

The credit card turnover for the second quarter decreased by 1. 79 percent quarter-to-quarter to just 1.78 billion patacas (223 million dollars), according to the Authority.