Warsaw  - Poland will toughen criteria for getting loans from banks amid the recent US financial crisis, reported the daily Dziennik on Thursday.

The changes will likely take effect at the end of this year, the head of Poland's Financial Supervision Authority told the daily. They will affect consumer and mortgage credit in all currencies. The move could lower property prices as less people would be able to afford homes.

"We see in the example of the US where excessive optimism leads in judging client's financial conditions," Krzysztof Broda of the Financial Supervision Authority was quoted as saying.

More than 90 per cent of homes in Poland are purchased through loans. The new criteria for mortgage credit would make about one-fifth of current candidates ineligible for loans, the paper reported.

Some Polish banks act as risky as American banks do by giving loans to people who are unable to repay, according to Thursday's Rzeczpospolita daily. (dpa)