Bank of Russia studies effectiveness of macroprudential policy in consumer lending
According to the findings of the studies, it is necessary to expand the set of macroprudential policy tools by adding a new mechanism directly limiting the portion of high-risk consumer loans.
Macroprudential policy measures that are currently used encourage banks to issue loans to households with lower debt service-to-income ratios at lower interest rates. As noted by the authors of the report presented by the Financial Stability Department, these measures do not influence the growth rate of lending.
In turn, the Research and Forecasting Department shows in its paper that macroprudential measures were limiting lending expansion at retail banks having a considerable portion of consumer loans in their assets to a greater extent. The study refers to the assessments of the responsiveness of banks’ credit activity to the tightness of macroprudential policy.