Bankers differed in their views on the small – Newspaper Kommersant No. 38 (7483) of 03/06/2023

At the end of 2022, Russian banks increased lending to small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) by 8.5%, to 11.4 trillion rubles. But the trend has been uneven. A number of large banks increased their work with SMEs faster than the market — for example, Sberbank, PSB and RNKB — while others, in particular, Alfa-Bank and Rosbank, on the contrary, reduced it. In general, bankers and experts say, SMEs are less exposed to the risk of sanctions, have adapted to the crisis more quickly and show delinquency lower than large businesses. Therefore, banks plan to increase the volume of lending to the sector, despite its traditionally high volatility.

“Kommersant” got acquainted with the data of “Expert RA”, from which it follows that at the end of 2022, the total volume of loans issued by banks to SMEs increased by 8.5%, to 11.4 trillion rubles. At the same time, for the first time during the observation period, the level of delinquency in the segment decreased to the level of standard corporate lending – 5.5% at the beginning of 2023. The share of restructuring in 2022 in the SME portfolio was about 12% versus 20% in large businesses.

However, the strategies of different banks in relation to SMEs differ. For example, Sberbank issued loans to SMEs for 3.37 trillion rubles, which is 13.8% more than a year earlier. Significant growth rates of lending in the segment were shown by PSB (by 17.9%, to 292.9 billion rubles), Ak Bars (by 23.2%, to 86.8 billion rubles), RNCB (by 29.7 %, to 67.9 billion rubles), ATB (by 116%, to 25.9 billion rubles). But even among large banks there are those who have reduced the volume of lending to SMEs. So, Alfa-Bank reduced the volume of loans by 8.7%, to 980 billion rubles, Rosbank – by 13%, to 112.1 billion rubles, Metallinvestbank – by 23.5%, to 31.9 billion rubles.

In 2023, experts expect continued growth in SME lending, believing that “in the absence of new economic shocks,” the segment will overcome the bar of 12 trillion rubles. “Large companies are more exposed to sanctions risks, while SMEs continue to develop against the backdrop of opportunities for parallel imports and building new supply chains,” explains Yulia Yakupova, director of banking ratings at Expert RA. “The segment will also be affected by the splitting of large businesses to minimize sanctions restrictions.

But not all lenders are able to work effectively with SMEs, Ms. Yakupova notes. Recently, government-supported lending programs (see Kommersant dated December 28, 2022), which are more accessible to large banks, have had a significant impact on the market. “Small banks provide customers with more flexible terms of service, which is an advantage,” the expert clarifies. “However, they are inferior to large banks in terms of rates.”

As a result, among medium and small banks, most likely, growth should be expected from regional players with strong positions in home regions, as well as from banks working with marketplaces, Yulia Yakupova believes.

At the same time, leasing and factoring companies offering narrower, but still similar products in terms of characteristics, will compete locally with banks, Suren Asaturov, Deputy Director of the Financial Institutions Ratings Group at ACRA, adds.

Interviewed bankers look at the SME segment with optimism. So, in 2023, PSB plans to increase the volume of lending to SMEs by another 20%, says Kirill Tikhonov, deputy head of the SME block of the bank. Rosbank expects “growth of SME lending boxes by 25% compared to 2022,” said Timur Makhsidov, head of the regional sales department of the bank’s small business department. “SME is a fairly flexible segment that adapts to economic and political changes,” emphasizes Anatoly Popov, Deputy Chairman of the Board of Sberbank.

Of course, “we should not forget that, on average, other things being equal, the cost of risk in the SME segment is higher than that of large businesses,” admits Suren Asaturov. He believes that the key to success in the segment is “a properly calibrated credit risk assessment model based on the available long-term default statistics.”

Polina Trifonova