Topical issues of consumer lending development in the Russian Federation

Consumer lending is one of the growth factors of consumer purchasing power. Until the beginning of the 2008 economic crisis in Russia, the consumer lending market developed at a faster pace, having become a significant engine of economic growth in the country. However, the imposition of economic sanctions and the destabilization of the RF monetary system have broken this trend. The article presents the contribution of different components of demand, including household consumption, to economic growth of the Russian Federation. It systemizes the main causes of rapid growth of retail lending in 2000, as well as the factors in slowing growth of consumer lending in 2013. It analyzes the dynamics of credit volume granted to individuals in 2010-2014 in terms of RF federal districts. The work considers the problem of deteriorated payment discipline of the population, reflected in the growth of overdue debts. In turn, this leads to the decrease in the credit health index to 96 points in 2014. The article also touches upon a relevant reason for increased volumes of arrears, such as a rise in the number of loans with signs of fraud. Despite the crisis phenomena in the economy in general and the banking sector in particular, the quality of retail portfolios of banking organizations depends on effective management. Therefore, there are internal reserves among various kinds of missed opportunities due to the deteriorated macroeconomic conditions. On the basis of analyzed trends in consumer lending in the Russian Federation and works of other scientists and economists, the author proposes the directions for development of this banking sector as an engine of economic growth. The methodological and theoretical basis of research includes the works of domestic and foreign scientists devoted to analysis of this problem, legislative and regulatory acts of the Russian Federation, regulating aspects of consumer lending, official statistics of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation, the National Bureau of Credit History and the world Bank. The validity and reliability of the study is achieved by applying scientific methods of analysis and synthesis, method of structural decomposition and factor comparison and dynamic approach.