Credit card spending in Taiwan approached NT$1.54 trillion (US$51.35 billion) in the first half of the year to reach a five-year high, as people showed a renewed willingness to spend amid easing concerns over COVID-19, the Financial Supervisory Commission said last week.
The first-half figure was up NT$108.4 billion from the same period last year and marked the second-highest total for the six-month period since similar data were first compiled in 2018, commission data showed.
In June, credit card spending reached NT$264.4 billion, up NT$6.4 billion from May, which Banking Bureau Deputy Director-General Phil Tong (童政彰) on Thursday said was due to a recovery in spending on travel, dining out and shopping.
Photo: Kelson Wang, Taipei Times
Spending using Cathay United Bank (國泰世華銀行) credit cards topped all banks at NT$43.7 billion in June, ahead of CTCB Bank (中國信託銀行) at NT$41.1 billion and E.Sun Commercial Bank (玉山銀行) at NT$36.5 billion.
Cards issued by the three banks accounted for almost 46 percent of all credit card spending in the month, the data showed.
CTBC Bank issued more than 100,000 new credit cards in June, making it the largest credit card issuer in the nation for the eighth straight month, ahead of E.Sun Bank with 80,000 new credit cards issued and Cathay United Bank with 56,000.
For the first six months, spending using credit cards issued by Cathay United Bank led all banks at NT$253.3 billion, followed by CTBC Bank with NT$241.3 billion and E.Sun Bank with NT$212.3 billion, the data showed.
As of the end of June, 53.9 million credit cards were in circulation in Taiwan, up 0.45 percent from a month earlier and up 5.27 percent from a year earlier, the commission said.
The nonperforming ratio of credit card debt was 0.18 percent on average as of the end of June, down 0.01 percentage points from a month earlier and down 0.05 percentage points from a year earlier, it said.
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