Credit card receivables down; delinquencies up

A drop in spending and a rise in delinquencies were experienced by Hong Kong in the first quarter this year.

Total credit card receivables in Hong Kong fell 4.8% to $95.6 billion while delinquencies rose 8% to $204 million at the end of March from $188 million at the end of December.

The Monetary Authority said the decrease in credit card receivables was due to the receding effect of festive spending around the year end and the payment of salaries tax using credit cards. The total number of credit-card accounts increased 2.4% to 15.4 million.

The rollover amount, which reflects the amount of borrowing by customers using their credit cards, fell 0.6% during the quarter. The charge-off amount rose to $390 million, or 0.4% of average receivables, in the first quarter of 2012.

The quarterly annualised charge-off ratio rose to 1.59% compared with 1.51% in the previous quarter.

The amount of rescheduled receivables transferred outside the surveyed institutions' credit-card portfolios increased slightly, to $68 million from $67 million in the previous quarter.