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The following is issued on behalf of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority:
The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) published today (February 16) the credit card lending survey results for the fourth quarter of 2014.
Total card receivables increased by 7.8% to HK$124.2 billion in the fourth quarter this year, after increasing 2.5% in the previous quarter. The increase was mainly due to festive spending around the year end and the payment of salaries tax using credit cards. The total number of credit card accounts edged up by 0.5% to around 17.04 million.
The rollover amount, which reflects the amount of borrowing by customers using their credit cards, increased by 5.8% during the quarter to HK$19.6 billion. However, the rollover ratio declined to 15.8% from 16.1% a quarter ago due to a faster increase in total card receivables.
The charge-off amount decreased to HK$554 million during the quarter from HK$563 million in the previous quarter. Correspondingly, the quarterly charge-off ratio reduced to 0.46% from 0.49% in the previous quarter.
The amount of rescheduled receivables transferred outside the surveyed institutions' credit card portfolios decreased to HK$77 million from HK$98 million in the previous quarter.
The delinquent amount slightly increased to HK$253 million at end-December from HK$252 million at end-September. However, the delinquency ratio edged down to 0.20% from 0.22% in the same period because of a faster increase in total card receivables. The combined delinquent and rescheduled ratio (after taking into account the transfer of rescheduled receivables mentioned above) reduced to 0.27% from 0.29% in the previous quarter.
Ends/Monday, February 16, 2015
Issued at HKT 16:30
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