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Banks Begin Lending More Despite Lingering Hangover from 2008
Tuesday 01 June 2010 Zoom in | Print page
Bratislava, June 1 (TASR) - The ability of bank clients to pay back loans continued to deteriorate in the first quarter of 2010, according to Slovakia's central bank NBS, and yet the amount of newly-provided credit rose year-on-year.
Banks approached by TASR on Tuesday largely agreed that this is the trend.
NBS's figures show that the volume of defaulted housing-related loans and mortgages stood at €337 million in the first three months of this year.
"The overall volume of defaulted loans continues to go up, as these loans remain in banks' portfolios for a period of up to three years (after the loan has expired). This is why such developments are natural. An absolute rise in defaulted loans thus can't be interpreted automatically as continuing deterioration in people's ability to pay back their loans," said Tatra Banka spokesman Boris Gandel.
According to spokesman for Slovenska Sporitelna bank Stefan Frimmer, there was only a moderate increase in the ratio of defaulted housing loans on the bank's portfolio. In addition, the rate of growth of defaulted loans has actually been slowing down recently, he added.
Meanwhile, the amount of newly-provided housing credit in the first quarter of 2010 by Tatra Banka went up moderately quarter-on-quarter, with the bank expecting this development to continue in the months to come.
Slovenska Sporitelna, for its part, actually saw the volume of its newly-provided housing loans fall slightly over the period in question. "When it comes to housing loans, the outset of the year is usually slow," said Frimmer.
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