Credit Card Lending Survey Results for Third Quarter 2011

The Hong Kong Monetary Authority announced the results of the survey on credit card lending for the third quarter of 2011.

Total card receivables increased by 4.2% to HK$90.6 billion in the third quarter of 2011, after increasing 3.9% in the second quarter of 2011.  The total number of credit card accounts increased by 2.1% to 14.8 million.

The rollover amount, which reflects the amount of borrowing by customers using their credit cards, declined by 6.6% during the quarter.

The charge-off amount increased by 12.9% in the third quarter of 2011 to HK$377 million (or around 0.4% of average receivables) at end-September 2011.  The quarterly annualised¹ charge-off ratio rose to 1.70% compared with 1.57% in the previous quarter.

The amount of rescheduled receivables transferred outside the surveyed institutions’ credit card portfolios increased to HK$87 million from HK$75 million in the previous quarter.  

The delinquent amount fell to HK$166 million at end-September 2011 from HK$176 million at end-June 2011. Correspondingly, the delinquency ratio declined to 0.18% from 0.20% at end-June 2011.  The combined delinquent and rescheduled ratio (after taking into account the transfer of rescheduled receivables mentioned above) fell to 0.25%.

Annex

Hong Kong Monetary Authority
18 November 2011

¹ This assumes the quarterly rate of charge-off is maintained for the next three quarters.