UniCredit retail head: By yearend we may see RON loans with one-digit interest rates

This year may finally bring one-digit interest rates for RON-denominated loans, closer to the cost of euro loans, estimates Zoltan Major, UniCredit Tiriac Bank executive vice-president of in charge of retail. "I believe we have all chances of seeing one-digit interest rates for RON-denominated loans this year, but only on certain segments, such as collateral-backed loans," stated Major in an interview with ZF. Still, he considers loans to the individual clients will not advance by more than 5-6% this year after the market should stagnate in the first six months amid clients' still weak demand given people's feeling of uncertainty. "I expect a slow rebound of retail lending this year because things will improve gradually, with a rebound more visible as late as the third quarter. An important factor for this process is the trend of unemployment, while the population's confidence in economic recovery and income increase are the other two major premises". Major says UniCredit is waiting for the market to pick up and is getting ready to cement its retail position after gaining market share on this segment last year, too.