You won’t take it under skill – Newspaper Kommersant No. 155 (7356) of 08/25/2022

Microfinanciers (MFIs) have again begun to pay close attention to the place of work of potential borrowers. They are tightening scoring for workers in industries that could be particularly hard hit in the current crisis. Mostly, refusals in loans are received by citizens employed in areas from which large foreign companies leave en masse. MFIs are also suspicious of services that people refuse in the first place amid falling incomes. In particular, workers in the fitness, film and automotive industries are suffering.

The Moneyman online lending service analyzed the refusals of borrowers from a number of industries in July 2019-2022. Statistics take into account the percentage of refusals from the total number of applications submitted by new and repeat customers. In total, over 100,000 applications were analyzed within each reporting period. Compared to the pandemic year of 2020, the refusal rate for borrowers in the fitness, film and auto industries has increased significantly in 2022. The number of refusals to them increased by 2, 8 and 7 p.p., to 86%, 88% and 84%, respectively. In pre-crisis 2019, the share of failures in segments was below 30%, and in 2021, when the recovery from the pandemic began, it was below 70%.

At the same time, the percentage of refusals for borrowers from those industries that looked risky during the pandemic has decreased. For example, the percentage of approvals for those employed in the field of beauty, retail trade, and construction is growing, Leonid Kornilov, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Finbridge Group, notes an example.

Employment of potential borrowers (place and scope of work must be indicated when applying.— “b”) again has a lot of weight in scoring, as in a pandemic, explains Sergey Vesovshchuk, CEO of Moneyman.

MFIs began to consider applications from employees who worked in companies that are now leaving Russia more carefully, adds Igor Smirnov, CEO of Creditter MCC.

“In terms of negative dynamics, sellers, cashiers and consultants are in the first place: the level of approval for them decreased by 3.7 percentage points,” says Ion Boloboshencu, Risk Director at Eqvanta Group. “This is a consequence of the withdrawal of some retail brands from the Russian market and result, loss of jobs. According to Dmitry Afrikanov, General Director of Unicom24, specialists are at risk, whose services they can actually refuse during a crisis.

According to experts, the level of approvals in the industry as a whole will continue to decline. It is not worth expecting a return to the levels of 2019, Mr. Vyesovshchuk concludes. The level of refusals in MFIs will grow from October-November, agrees Roman Makarov, general director of the Zaimer MFC. “The requirements for clients were tightened with the start of the special operation and have not been relaxed since then, since the effects of sanctions on the economy have not yet fully manifested themselves,” he explains.

A more conservative approach to assessing borrowers is also due to the fact that in 2020, when the lockdown occurred, it was possible to predict with a greater or lesser degree of certainty which sectors of the economy would be affected first and most, adds the risk director of MigCredit IFC Aleksey Perederiy, and based on this, build your credit policy. In the current situation, this is more difficult to do.

The situation will have a negative impact on the market results in the fourth quarter, traditionally the most intensive in terms of issuance and repayment of borrowed funds, Mr. Makarov fears.

The growth in issuance will be very moderate, taking into account the increased scoring, the fears of companies in SRO MiR confirm.

However, this situation also has its advantages, market participants believe. “Just in times of crisis, the quality of the client base is growing,” emphasizes Andrey Ponomarev, CEO of the online financial platform Webbankir. This is due to the influx of a part of the banking audience into MFIs, he is sure. Of course, the delay compared to 2021 may increase, Mr. Ponomarev admits, but not critically. Now, according to NAPCA, it is at an acceptable level of 25-30%.

Polina Trifonova