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Banks will maintain their lending standards unchanged in the first quarter of this year, both for consumer loans and for property loans, found the February survey on lending to non-financial corporations and households conducted by the National Bank of Romania (BNR), according to AGERPRES.
According to the survey, lending standards remained predominantly constant in Q4 2020, both for consumer loans and for loans granted for the purchase of housing and land.
Also, about 73 percent of the lending institutions reported maintaining their lending standards unchanged for non-financial corporations.
"Expectations regarding the general economic activity remain a matter of concern for lending institutions in Romania, but in the euro area as well, impacting the lending standards, as reflected in their tightening by some banks (a minority percentage)," the survey states.
Expectations for the next period (Q1 2021) show lending requirements remaining virtually unchanged for both types of household loans, according to most of the polled lending institutions. At the same time, the vast majority of banks estimate that lending standards for corporate loans will stay put in Q1 2021 (82 percent of the lending institutions).
For Q1 2021, banks see demand for consumer loans remaining unchanged (83 percent), with only 17 percent of the respondents foreseeing a moderate decline. Corporate loan demand stayed flat in Q4 2020 for most lending institutions.
The BNR survey is conducted quarterly in January, April, July and October, based on a questionnaire (released as part of the May 2008 analysis) which is sent to the top 10 banks by their market share in terms of corporate and retail lending, which account for about 80 percent of the loan stock.
