The global liquidity crisis will strongly affect some long-term loans (given for seven to ten years) such as mortgages», Unicom Partner Universal Investment Company’s Asset Management Director Vitaliy Kalugin said to UrBC.

«As for the popular consumer loans, the crisis is likely to affect those, but not as badly. Banks are actually interested in offering such loans to their customers because the interest rates can make up for even the very expensive foreign liabilities», he noted.

«In fact, consumer lending is one of the few ways for banks to get some income, and they are sure to go through with it, however much they may dislike it. I’d say banks will cut back on the payment period of loans previously offered for three to five years rather than on the volume of loans they offer», Mr. Kalugin added.

«If the current crisis does not clear up, the new lending trends might last for a couple of years, by the end of which time I personally feel the crisis might only get worse».