The Data: Coverage, Periodicity, and Timeliness

Coverage characteristics

Data are published in millions of New Zealand dollars for international ‘brand name’ credit and charge cards. The data are both daily averages and ‘as at’ the last day of the month, with interest rate information on both bases.

Data series begin January 1981. Credit card statistics: balances outstanding (table C12) covers deposit balances, credit limits, total advances outstanding and personal advances outstanding, split by interest-bearing and non-interest-bearing balances. It also includes interest rate information. Credit card statistics: amounts financed (table C13) includes amounts financed in NZ and overseas on cards issued in New Zealand, as well as billings in NZ by overseas-issued cards.

Periodicity

Monthly

Timeliness

Fifteen working days following the end of the reference month.

Access by the public

Advance release calendar

The “Advance Release Calendar” is a long-term plan of scheduled releases. It is modified when necessary on Fridays.

Integrity

Dissemination of terms and conditions under which official statistics are produced, including confidentiality of individual responses

Data are collected under Section 36 of The Reserve Bank of New Zealand Act 1989 (The Act).

The Reserve Bank of New Zealand publishes only aggregated data. Individual institutional data is confidential.

Provision of information about revisions and advance notice of major changes in methodology

Provisional data are italicised. Data are deemed provisional when a series is under review. New data, or revised data, are in bold font. Revisions are generally published when the table is next due to be updated and released. Should revisions need to be made more promptly, a note is posted on the website under “Revisions to Tables”.

Details of revisions made to the Credit Card survey are available on the website. Series breaks are reported when they occur and a record of them and how they are treated is available for downloading with the historical series.

Quality

Dissemination of documentation on methodology and sources used in preparing statistics

The Credit Card survey has been revised from February 2001.

Dissemination of statistics that support statistical cross-checks and provide assurance of reasonableness

Selected credit card information is collected in the monthly survey of M3 institutions (SSR), in Part CC1.