Feb 5 (Reuters) - U.S. banks expect to hold steady or tighten credit standards this year even as they anticipate an increase in demand for loans of all types as interest rates fall, according to a Federal Reserve survey of senior bank lending officers published on Monday.
Fed officials had the survey results in hand last week when they decided to keep the policy rate steady in the 5.25%-5.5% range and signal that interest rate cuts will likely come later this year, although probably not as soon as next month.
Reporting by Ann Saphir; Editing by Mark Porter
