Analytics, Financial Services, Latvia

Last year non-bank lenders issued new loans totaling EUR 538.46 mln which is a growth by EUR 70.45 mln or 15.05% from 2015. Remote loans prevailed among the newly-issued loans, accounting for EUR 207.64 mln or 40% of the total amount.

The quality of the non-bank loan portfolio worsened slightly last year, the PTAC said. The share of overdue non-bank loans was 15.26 percent at the end of last year compared to 14.72% at the end of 2015.

Among remote loan providers, there are still several companies with loan portfolios of poor quality where overdue loans exceed 70% and 60% of loans are long past due.

As reported, new regulations concerning instant loans took effect in Latvia last year. The regulations created with the intention to prevent consumers from constantly growing debts limit the maximum amount of the loan-related costs (interest, late payment interest, deadline extension fee, etc.) to 100% of the principal amount of the loan.