Banks push sales of credit cards

Over one million credit cards issued by commercial banks are currently circulating on the market, as well as a significant number of similar products issued by non-banking financial institutions. Credit cards are highly profitable for banks, given that they come with much higher interests than personal loans. If the client does not reimburse the whole sum drawn from the line of credit granted on card during the grace period, interests incurred can climb from some 16% to 28% a year, depending on the bank and the credit card package. As early as 2005, banks had started to rely on credit cards to trigger future growth on the retail market, anticipating enthusiasm for consumer credits. Two years’ worth of increasingly strong promotion of these products have started to generate results. According to a study conducted by ZF, the top three banks in the system alone – BCR, BRD-SocGen and Raiffeisen Bank, have together issued over 950 thousand cards. Smaller banks have also begun issuing cards, although the number of credit cards issued remains small.