Russia's VTB expects slower retail lending growth after 27% leap in 2021 – Reuters
MOSCOW, Feb 3 (Reuters) – Russian bank VTB's (VTBR.MM) retail lending portfolio jumped 27% in 2021 to a record 4.69 trillion roubles ($61.35 billion), outperforming the wider market, the lender said on Thursday, but forecast slower growth this year as high interest rates bite.
Lending activity picked up pace last year despite seven rate hikes by the Russian central bank as the impact was cushioned by the economy rebounding from a 2020 contraction caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
"The rate of retail lending last year turned out to be a record," VTB Deputy Chairman Anatoly Pechatnikov said.
VTB, Russia's No. 2 lender by assets after Sberbank (SBER.MM), said sales of loans to individuals in 2021 were 40% higher, year-on-year, at 2.59 trillion roubles. Its mortgage loan portfolio increased by more than 31%. read more
In 2022, the bank says it expects higher interest rates to curb retail lending growth – though it anticipates that it will still outpace the growth in the overall market which it pegs at 12% this year.
Grappling with accelerating inflation, the central bank raised its key interest rate to 8.50% from 4.25% last year. Analysts polled by Reuters expect the bank to hike its key rate by 100 basis points to 9.5% on Feb. 11. read more
In 2022, VTB anticipates its customer base will rise by almost 3 million to reach about 19 million people, after it added 1.8 million last year.
The number of retail investors in Russia has surged during a pandemic that has kept many people at home, and VTB said it enjoyed a record 33% rise in the volume of funds held in investment accounts in 2021, as the overall amount of funds held by the bank rose by 22%.
"In 2022, these trends will strengthen, and the volume of investments, which already became one of the basic saving instruments for Russians, will equal account balances for the first time," Pechatnikov added.
($1 = 76.4521 roubles)
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