Central Bank expects banks to tighten lending standards in March

Elizaveta Danilova, director of the financial stability department of the Bank of Russia, said that the regulator expects banks to tighten lending standards in February and March. According to her, they will have to take such measures to fit into the restrictions on issuing loans and loans to borrowers with a high leverage ratio (HLR) for the long term.

Ms. Danilova recalled that earlier banks loosened lending standards, due to which the share of loans with IIT 80% in the fourth quarter of 2022 rose to a record level of 36%. After that, the Central Bank introduced limits to cool the consumer lending market, they began to operate in January. According to her, in January 2023, in large banks, the share of loans with PD of 80% did not exceed the limit of 25%.

“However, we expect banks to further tighten their standards in February and March to meet the restrictions. Some banks have already structured their lending process to comply with them on a daily basis. For the second quarter, we set the same limits as for the first. They seem to be quite conservative,” Elizaveta Danilova explained in an interview. “National Banking Journal”.

Kommersant wrote that in January, Russian banks reduced lending to citizens. During the month, 0.8 trillion rubles were issued. against 1.4 trillion rubles. in December and 909.4 billion rubles. in January 2022.

More details – in the material “Kommersant” “Lending has been regulated”.

Olesya Pavlenko