At the end of 2023, 97% of the pre-trial banking assignment was purchased on online platforms

At the end of 2023, 97% of pre-trial banking assignments were purchased on online platforms – this is the maximum figure since the second quarter of 2022. The growth is associated with the restoration of the balance of supply and demand in the market after its slowdown in 2022. The traditional seasonal factor also played a role: creditors sought to clear their balance sheets and get rid of arrears. In 2024, collectors expect supply to increase by 10–15%.

At the end of the fourth quarter of 2023, the share of auctions held on online platforms in the segment of pre-trial banking assignment (when overdue debt is purchased from the creditor) amounted to 97% – 10.3 billion out of 10.6 billion rubles. Such data are provided in the report of the online auction for the sale of overdue debt Debex, which Kommersant reviewed. During the first three quarters of last year, the rate fluctuated between 50% and 94%. It was higher only in the second quarter of 2022 – 98%. The cost of bank pre-trial assignment at the end of the last quarter of 2023 showed a slight decrease after three quarters of growth and amounted to 13.35%.

Online platforms account for more than 80% of the assignment market. In total, in 2023, banks offered 35.46 billion rubles for sale at online auctions under the assignment scheme. debts at the pre-trial stage of collection. This is 14% less than in 2022 (RUB 40.4 billion). More than 107.37 billion rubles were offered for judicial portfolios of bank arrears. (decrease by 3.4% year-on-year), mixed portfolios – 24.98 billion rubles. (20% increase).

“The conclusion about the reduction was made without taking into account a significant part of the market, which takes place without the bidding procedure. For example, a number of banks have affiliated collection agencies to which debt is transferred directly. The volume of such portfolios of large universal and retail banks can be measured in billions,” says Ivan Uklein, senior director for banking ratings at the Expert RA agency.

According to Pavel Mikhmel, head of the NAPKA Buyers and Sellers Club, the total volume of bank debt put up for sale at the end of 2023 is about 260 billion rubles.

High debt sales in 2023 are the result of pent-up demand, Debex CEO Marat Brook explains the trend. “Starting in the second quarter of 2022, the market essentially froze. The first sales started only in December. Therefore, in 2023, buyers increased the volumes for the previous year. Collection agencies, thanks to the digitalization of collection, have become more efficient in their work. In addition, many sellers are cooperative, transferring related documents faster and with better quality, and thus finalize transactions faster,” he says.

The percentage of closed transactions in the banking segment of the assignment is above 90% “corresponds to the norm of a healthy market”, we are talking about restoring the balance of supply and demand compared to the results of 2022, agrees Alexander Vasiliev, CEO of the service for the return of overdue debts ID Collect.

At the same time, the volume of assignments of distressed assets has a traditional seasonal surge in the fourth quarter, when the top management of large banks “clears the balance sheet” to meet KPIs, clarifies Ivan Uklein. Buyers try to close as many transactions as possible in November-December so that they can start working with new portfolios at the beginning of the year. In 2023, the peak of sales of banking portfolios occurred in November; in December, a very small volume was offered, but the excitement of the previous month “provided high market activity for the fourth quarter as a whole,” confirms Alexander Vasiliev.

In 2024, NAPCA expects a slight increase in supply. During the year, the volume of supply in the banking sector of the assignment will grow.

According to ID Collect forecasts, a large number of portfolios formed by loans issued during the pandemic and “the February events of 2022, when even solvent borrowers who found themselves in a difficult situation due to force majeure circumstances” went into arrears on the market. According to Alexander Vasiliev, by the end of 2024, 10–15% more portfolios may be offered in monetary terms than in 2023.

Polina Trifonova