MACAO -- There were a total of 648,881 personal credit cards in circulation by the end of the fourth quarter of 2012, with the number of renminbi cards surged by 39 percent compared with a year earlier, the Monetary Authority of Macao Special Administrative Region announced Thursday.

The number of Pataca cards, Hong Kong dollar cards and renminbi cards were 470,751, 70,953 and 107,707, respectively, in the period, which went up by 3.6 percent, 1.3 percent and 10.2 percent quarter on quarter, the figures showed. Compared with a year earlier, Pataca cards and Hong Kong dollar cards grew 13.8 percent and 6.3 percent, respectively.

Meanwhile the renminbi cards registered an upsurge of 39 percent, driven by a marked 41.2 percent growth of Macao pataca/renminbi dual-currency cards.

At the end of last December, credit card credit limit granted by banks in Macao reached Macao pataca 10.8 billion ($1.35 billion), up 5.7 percent from the end of last September. Credit card receivables amounted to Macao pataca 1.7 billion, while the rollover amount totaled Macao pataca 502.8 million, accounting for 29.2 percent of credit card receivables, with the delinquency ratio of 0.61 percent.

For the fourth quarter of last year, the credit card turnover surged 17.9 percent from the previous quarter to Macao pataca 3.4 billion. The cash advance turnover was Macao pataca 158.4 million, accounting for 4.7 percent of total credit card turnover. Credit card repayments, in which payments for interest and fees are included, went up 7.4 percent from the previous quarter to Macao pataca 3.2 billion.