Banks Continue Tightening Conditions for Corporate Loans

The results of the January survey show that, in the final quarter of 2023, the banks continued tightening the standards under which they approved corporate loans, which is in line with the expectation presented in the previous survey, the National Bank of Serbia (NBS) announced in the report on the credit activity of banks in the final quarter of 2023. The tightening of the standards, as said, largely pertained to FX and FX-indexed loans and to large companies.

The banks expect a slight further tightening of the credit standards for corporate loans in the first quarter of 2024.

At the same time, in the fourth quarter of 2023, the banks kept nearly unchanged credit standards for retail loans, which is also in line with the expectations from October. In the beginning of 2024, the banks expect the easing of the standards for retail loan approval.

– In general, corporate loan demands dropped during the fourth quarter of 2021, primarily due to the drop in the demand for FX/FX-indexed loans. On the other hand, due to the need for the financing of working assets and the restructuring of existing obligations, the corporate dinar-loan demand increased – the report says.

The banks expect the demand for corporate loans to recover in the first quarter of 2024.

It is estimated by the banks that there was an increase in retail loan demands at the end of 2023, primarily due to the growth of the demand for dinar loans, and similar tendencies are expected to continue in the coming period as well.

Narodna banka Srbije Beograd

National Bank of Serbia

NBS

report on credit activity of banks in final quarter of 2023

corporate loans

retail loans

dinar loans

euro loans