Thevalue of bad loans put up for sale by Russian lenders in 2016 is expected tomatch or exceed the record 440 billion Russian ruble figure from 2015, Vedomosti reported April 5, citingRussian debt collector Sequoia Credit Consolidation.

The valueof nonperforming loans put up for sale in the first quarter of 2016 fell by 18%year over year to 76 billion rubles, but Sequoia Credit Consolidation believesthat the total by the end of the year could beat 2015's record level.

Deputyhead of debt collection company Creditexpress, Viktor Semenduev, reportedlysaid many lenders chose to hold off selling problems loans in 2015 in the hopethat improving macroeconomic conditions would help them get higher prices forthe NPLs in 2016.

Debtcollectors had been offering around 0.5% of the total value of NPLs portfoliosin 2015, raising the amount to between 1% and 1.3% on average since thebeginning of 2016, the newspaper noted.

Meanwhile,Kommersant reported April 6 thatAO Russian StandardBank sold 32 billion rubles of overdue loans in 2015, mainlyconsumer and payment card loans. The loans were sold in several transactions tovarious debt collectors, including First Collection Bureau.

As of April 6, US$1 wasequivalent to 68.25 Russian rubles.