Taiwan's Credit-card Spending May Hit Record High of NT$2 Trillion This Year

Thanks to warming business climate, Taiwan's credit-card spending reached NT$178.8 billion (US$5.96 billion) in September, with first-nine-month  spending totaling NT$1.5283 trillion (US$50.94 billion), up 8% year on year, and 2014 spending to likely hit record high of NT$2 trillion (US$66.67 billion), according to Taiwan's Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC).

The September credit card spending totaled NT$178.9 billion (US$5.96 billion) for a sharp annual rise of 18.56% or NT$28 billion (US$933.33 million).

Among credit-card issuers, Cathay United Bank witnessed the highest credit-card spending of NT$27.7 billion (US$923.33 million) in September, followed closely by CTBC Bank with NT$27.4 billion (US$913.33 million). Citibank took the third place with NT$18.6 billion (US$620 million). As of September, CTBC floated the largest volume of 5.72 million credit cards, of which 3.7 million had been used in the last six months to be regarded as active.

FSC statistics show some 37.12 million credit cards were circulated in Taiwan as of September, with outstanding revolving credit of NT$113.6 billion (US$3.79 billion), down NT$800 million (US$26.67 million) from a month earlier, due installments of  NT$77.1 billion (US$2.57 billion), down NT$100 million (US$3.33 million) from the previous month.

In September the bad loan write-offs of all domestic banks came to NT$310 million (US$10.3 million) with non-performing loan (NPL) proportion up 0.01 of a percentage point from a month earlier to 0.26% in average, yet down 0.03 of a percentage point year on year. (JL)