INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
showing signs of distress surged 90% between January and March, reaching 285 billion rubles (around $3 billion)
consumer loans rose 22.5% to 610 billion rubles, with the share of such loans in the portfolio increasing from 12.4% to 16.1%
Loans overdue by more than 90 days also reached a three-year high, rising from 9.3% to 10.4%.VTB did not disclose exact figures for
different categories of overdue loans, but its IFRS report indicated a deterioration in credit quality
The share of non-performing retail loans rose from 3.9% to 4.8% in the first quarter, according to RBC estimates.Banking executives linked
that the exits [to delinquency] are not only for new loans
driving the uptick in delinquencies.Mikhail Polukhin, director of the financial institutions ratings group at ACRA, told RBC that the issue
he said.These policies, along with persistently high interest rates, are likely to keep pressure on household finances
However, ACRA does not currently expect a major crisis in retail lending.The delinquency rates for both mortgages and consumer loans are
still manageable, agreed Ivan Ukleyin, senior director for bank ratings at Expert RA
He added that banks are unlikely to sell off bad debts to collectors in the near term, as the current high key interest rate makes such
transactions financially unattractive.
