Issue cannot be refused – Newspaper Kommersant No. 64 (7509) dated 04/13/2023

The Bank of Russia is working on the idea of ​​separating a group of risky borrowers who, given the possibility of such a right, could remain a bank client and not transfer to MFIs (where rates are significantly higher). At a meeting of the profile committee of the State Duma on Wednesday, the head of the Central Bank, Elvira Nabiullina, said that the possibility of “introducing such a category and regulating riskier borrowers in a special way” is being considered.

The Central Bank explained to Kommersant that amendments to the law are now being considered, which may give the Bank of Russia the authority to establish categories of consumer loans depending on the level of risk of the borrower. Possible parameters of the new category are discussed, including the maximum amount and term of loans. According to the Central Bank, the implementation of such an initiative “will allow borrowers whose financial situation has temporarily deteriorated to continue lending to banks at higher rates, which will still be significantly lower than those of MFIs.”

The problems of the flow of bank clients to MFIs have long been known. The client base of MFIs, according to SRO MiR, reached 17.3 million people at the end of 2022, while the number of bank clients is about 42 million people. At the same time, people with an increased debt load who have not passed the bank’s scoring often go to MFIs. Namely, the Central Bank has been actively fighting with the growth of the debt burden in recent years.

Bankers do not feel sorry for losing bad clients, it is much more sensitive when there is no way to keep good ones. And in this case, the Central Bank’s strategy looks more like an adjustment to previous decisions to tighten consumer lending. Thus, from the beginning of the year, the Central Bank introduced strict macroprudential limits, and before that it increased the premiums on the risk ratios of consumer loans with a high debt burden.

In normal practice, it is much easier to apply to MFIs, while banks have a rather strict selection process. Some microcredit companies sometimes do not ask for the borrower’s credit history at all. A check by Kommersant showed that it is possible to get a loan in such companies without any problems with a personal income tax of more than 80% and an overdue credit history. Although the amounts for primary borrowers are small – 7-15 thousand rubles, for repeated ones – up to 100 thousand rubles.

However, other segments also require adjustments. In particular, the Bank of Russia is actively tightening conditions in the mortgage market, and is also trying to regulate the installment market. But it seems impossible to find a universal formula, since the Central Bank is limited in its choice of subjects of regulation (banks, MFIs), while borrowers or other participants in market relations (retailers, developers) are not subject to the mega-regulator.