Q3 sees continuously high growth in lending and resuming inflow of household funds to deposits
Lending to companies, including small and medium-sized businesses, was up 3.8% in 2021 Q3, which is in line with the level of Q2. According to the Banking Sector analytical review, large borrowers from commodity-based industries and property developers account for more than a half of the increase.
Over the quarter, mortgage growth slowed to 6.1% from 8.2%, mainly due to the modification of the 6.5% preferential mortgage programme and the period of vacations. Banks continued to issue consumer loans actively. The growth was 5.7%, slightly below 5.9% posted in Q2. October saw a more noticeable deceleration against the background of higher macro add-ons and rates. Car loan growth rate dropped from 7.3% in Q2 to 6.3% following a decrease in new car sales.
As before, there was an inflow of budget (+12.5%) and corporate funds (+3.6%) to banks. Compared to a 0.8% decline in H1, household funds resumed growing (+1.4% in Q3), with the main increase in August-September ensured by time deposits, the demand for which was up due to higher interest rates.
In Q3, the sector’s net profit reached 686 billion rubles vs 610 billion rubles in Q2 due to higher lending and transactional activity of customers, lower provisioning costs, as well as a very moderate growth in operating expenses.