Bankers turn unsecured consumer loans into mortgages

Bankers last year started a sterile war of refinancing deals, whose only outcome was improved coverage with guarantees, as many consumer loans were bundled into larger mortgage loans, but no additional sums were pumped toward clients.
Unsecured consumer loans were the hardest hit by the lending freeze and registered a two-digit drop, while mortgages were upheld by sales of state-guaranteed loans.
The volume of loans granted to individuals dropped by 5.6% in real terms last year and reached 102bn lei (around 24m euros) in late December and the decline was steeper against a decrease of just 3.6% in 2009.
Bankers have bigger expectations for this year as the economy is forecast to exit recession and are trying to attract more clients for loans, inclusively through interest and fee cuts.
Data on the entire market show private lending remained flat in the first month of this year, but bankers say they did not expect a rapid rebound during winter months.