Loan demand rises in July

Bankers were taken by surprise in July, when more than 327,000 clients applied for a loan, with their number being almost three times higher than the monthly average during the January-June period, according to NBR data.

Banks have not checked out such a high number of potential clients in the database of the Central Credit Register (CRB) since November 2008.
The demand rally came as a surprise in the context where bankers have repeatedly complained that the shortage of solvent clients is the main hurdle in the way of lending revival.
At the same time, the banks that had promotional campaigns for retail loans in spring say the number of clients did not increase too much in July.
Banks in the first seven months of the year received a little above one million loan applications, similar with the level posted in the same period of 2009. despite the July pickup, demand is still at a low level, considering that in 2007, the peak period of lending, there were more than one million applications in a single month.