Bank of Russia keeps macroprudential limits on unsecured consumer loans unchanged
The Bank of Russia has retained the parameters of macroprudential limits (MPLs) on unsecured1 consumer loans and microloans for 2025 Q2 the same as those set for 2025 Q1.
In making this decision, the Bank of Russia Board of Directors was guided by the following.
In 2024 Q1—Q3, banks expanded the provision of high-risk unsecured consumer loans. In view of this, the Bank of Russia tightened macroprudential policy by raising risk-weight add-ons (from 1 July and 1 September 2024) and reducing limits on loans issued to highly-indebted borrowers. These measures improved significantly the structure of lending. The share of new unsecured consumer loans with DSTI ratios2 over 50% decreased from 60% in 2023 Q2 to 26%3 in 2024 Q4.4 Additionally, banks accumulated an ₽827 billion macroprudential buffer on consumer loans (6.5% of the consumer loan portfolio) that can be used afterwards to cover potential loan losses.
In their turn, due to introduced macroprudential measures and the worse debt servicing of earlier issued loans, banks toughened their requirements for new borrowers. As a result, the approval rate decreased from 29% in 2023 Q3 to 17% in 2024 Q4 for cash loans and from 29% to 22% for credit cards. The steepest decline in the approval rate was registered in 2024 Q4.
Following the toughening of bank requirements for borrowers, unsecured consumer loans stopped growing. The amount of outstanding loans decreased by 0.3% in January 2025 and by 1.9% in December 2024.
As for loans issued by microfinance organisations (MFOs), their outstanding amount continued to grow (+14% in 2024 Q4 vs +10% in 2024 Q3). However, it was still incomparable with that of unsecured consumer loans (less than 4% of outstanding consumer loans).
Given that banks have been toughening borrower criteria at their own discretion and limiting the provision of high-risk loans, and that the increase in outstanding MFO loans is not threatening financial stability, the Bank of Russia has retained the existing parameters of MPLs for 2025 Q2.
The parameters of MPLs for 2025 Q3 will be set by the Bank of Russia in April 2025 based on changes in the credit quality, households’ debt burden, and lending standards.
MPL values for banks (except for banks with a basic licence)
| DSTI is above 50% but below 80% | DSTI is above 80% | Loan maturity is over five years | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 Q1 | 2025 Q2 | 2025 Q1 | 2025 Q2 | 2025 Q1 | 2025 Q2 | |
| Of the amount of issued consumer loans without a credit limit | 15% | 15% | 3% | 3% | 5% | 5% |
| Of the amount of established (increased) credit limits | 10% | 10% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% |
MPL values for MFOs
| DSTI is above 50% but below 80% | DSTI is above 80% | Loan maturity is over five years | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 Q1 | 2025 Q2 | 2025 Q1 | 2025 Q2 | 2025 Q1 | 2025 Q2 | |
| Of the amount of issued consumer loans without a credit limit | 15% | 15% | 3% | 3% | No limit | |
| Of the established (increased) credit limits | 10% | 10% | 0% | 0% | No limit | |
1 Not collateralised by the pledge of property and/or vehicles.
2 Debt service-to-income ratio of a borrower.
3 Data from Reporting Form 0409704 are used for credit cards; data from Reporting Form 0409135 are used for cash loans.
4 The percentage of loans actually issued to borrowers with DSTI above 50% exceeds the amount of the MPLs set for 2024 Q4 on loans to borrowers with DSTI of
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