Slower growth in new credit card accounts

0.26% increase seen last year but existing card holders spending more

The growth in new credit card accounts slowed last year, but existing consumers have been spending more.

Last year, 606,844 existing and first-time credit card holders obtained one or more new credit cards, up from 605,248 in 2010, according to the Credit Bureau of Singapore on Thursday.

This is a 0.26 per cent increase, but a sharp slowdown from the 7.32 per cent increase in 2010.

The fall stemmed from a 0.41 per cent drop in the number of existing credit card holders who obtained new credit cards.