OREANDA-NEWS  The rapid growth in the popularity of pawnshops among Russians is explained by the tightening of control over microfinance organizations (MFOs) and the increase in world gold prices. This was stated by Elizaveta Danilova, Director of the Financial Stability Department of the Bank of Russia, in an interview with Expert magazine.

In the three quarters of 2025 (latest data), pawnshops gave out 288 billion rubles to the population, which is 38 percent more than a year earlier. At the same time, gold prices have increased less over this period — by 30 percent.

According to Danilova, gold products are most often used as collateral for the loan, which means that the pawnshop is ready to increase the amount of debt. The remaining growth was provided by citizens who can no longer use the services of MFIs.

For the whole of 2024, pawnshops issued loans worth 302 billion rubles, or a quarter more than in 2023, and their profits increased by 73 percent to 8.8 billion rubles.

Earlier it was reported that some MFOs, due to lower incomes, began to impose additional services on customers when issuing loans, including horoscopes and tarot cards.