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Monday, November 08, 2010

Fed: Banks expect tight lending standards for foreseeable future

by Calculated Risk on 11/08/2010 02:23:00 PM

In general banks have stopped tightening standards (they are already very tight), and demand has stopped falling (there is little demand for loans).

From the Federal Reserve The October 2010 Senior Loan Officer Opinion Survey on Bank Lending Practices

The October survey indicated that, on net, banks eased standards and terms over the previous three months on some categories of loans to households and businesses. ... However, substantial fractions of banks reported in response to a set of special questions that standards for many categories of loans would not return to their longer-run averages for the foreseeable future.
...
Domestic survey respondents reported easing standards and most terms on [commercial and industrial] C&I loans to firms of all sizes. ... Demand declined, on net, for C&I loans ...

Most respondents reported no change in their bank's standards for approving [commercial real estate] CRE loans. ...

[A] special question asked banks whether their current level of lending standards remained tighter than the average level over the past decade and, if so, when they expected that standards would return to their long-run norms, assuming that economic activity progressed according to consensus forecasts. For all loan categories, substantial fractions of respondents thought that their bank's lending standards would not return to their long-run norms until after 2012 or would remain tighter than longer-run average levels for the foreseeable future.
Here is the full report.