Banks sharply reduced the issuance of consumer loans amid COVID restrictions

In October, the pace of unsecured lending in Russia showed the sharpest decline in monthly terms since the pandemic spring of 2020, according to preliminary calculations by Frank RG (available from RBC). According to analysts, banks issued 1.8 million cash loans to the population for 564.4 billion rubles. Compared to September, the number of new loans decreased by 8.7%, and the volume - by 10.6%.

With the exception of a seasonal drop in January, there has not been such a sharp monthly decline in issuances since April last year, when Russia went into self-isolation against the backdrop of the first wave of the CORONAVIRUS pandemic. In annual terms, unsecured lending is still growing, but the growth rate has slowed down to 20.6% in October against the September level of 30.2%.

The Bank of Russia began to record an acceleration in banking retail from the spring of 2021. According to Frank RG statistics, since March, the monthly volume of unsecured loans granted to citizens has been at the level of 580 billion rubles. and higher. Cash disbursements decreased in May due to fewer working days, as well as in July and September, but not as much as in October.