UrBC, Yekaterinburg, February 9, 2016. The overall amount and number of past-due loan repayments and NPLs rose by 30% on the Russian lending market last year, National Credit History Bureau’s Deputy Director Vladimir Shikin told the radio channel Russkaya Sluzhba Novostei.

‘The past-due loan repayments kept growing last year both in nominal value and in percentage against the overall loan volume. This was because the risks Russian banks took in 2012 and 2013 by enthusiastically giving out loans started to take effect. Besides, people’s incomes shrank, so some of them can’t pay any longer,’ Shikin said.

However, Russian customers still need borrowed funds badly.

‘While the demand for bank loans has gone down a bit, the micro-financing schemes are booming. Some 15% of the loans people take from these micro-financing organizations are the ready cash they need to get by before pay day, the rest is consumer loans,’ he said.