In a report released this afternoon, Barclays Capital discussed the results of this week's Federal Reserve's Senior Loan Officer Opinion Survey (SLOOS) on Bank Lending Practices for 3Q12.
According to Barclays, the report highlighted the continued strength of consumer lending.
The survey showed that, on average, banks did not change their lending standards much across the different categories. This is despite their willingness to make consumer instalment as well as extend auto and credit card loans remain high, Barclays noted.
The standards did not change much in the current survey versus July, Barclays noted. The demand for auto, residential real estate, and commercial real estate loans was overall more than the July survey. However, Barclays said commercial and industrial (C&I) loan demand was mostly unchanged.
As how its has been for most of the last year, the October SLOOS survey demonstrated that the banking sector is willing to extend credit at more favorable terms compared to the previous years. Continued strength in C&I lending is complemented by more active consumer and real estate lending categories.
The Senior Loan Officer Opinion Survey also indicated that bank participation in consumer credit remains strong, Barclays reported.
Roughly 13% of net bank respondents indicated said that they had become "somewhat more willing" to make consumer instalment loans versus three months ago, Barclays reported. Close to 11% also reported that they eased credit standards for approving applications for credit cards, and a similar number reported easing standards for approving auto loans.
Barclays said that this was probably caused by stronger consumer demand for auto loans given that 17% of net respondents stated that interest in auto financing had become "moderately stronger" in the time period.
A similar net fraction of banks indicated that a strengthening of credit card loan demand, Barclays reported.
