March retail loan sales match boom year levels

Loan demand from individuals registered a spectacular rebound in March, with the number of loan reports issued by the Credit Bureau at banks' requests for information on potential clients almost doubling from previous months, to 569,000 queries.

The all-time peak had been reached in July 2008, when the Credit Bureau requested information about 793,000 potential clients. In 2008, the monthly average got close to 632,000 queries and in 2009 and 2010 it slid toward 341,000 queries.

Despite the higher number of credit applications, the volume of loans granted to individuals continued to decline in March, which shows new funding is still not covering repayments.

Since the end of winter, bankers have stepped up loan sales, even though they are now sticking to attracting clients from peers, with the hope of lending an additional sum to them. A rising number of bankers, especially from among the top ten ones, are coming up with offers of loans presented as "refinancing" ones, though almost any loan can be theoretically used to this end as well.