BRD wants more credits for SOEs

BRD-Groupe Societe Generale, the second largest bank on the market, would like to lend more money to state-owned enterprises (SOE), as such clients make up for only 7% of the total credits at the moment.

“Traditionally, the share of credits to state-run companies granted by BRD is limited considering the entire credit portfolio. We want to increase it but BCR’s weight on this market is a problem,” Patrick Gelin, BRD’s chief executive told Ziarul Financiar.

The share of credits BRD grants to private clients accounts for over 30% of the total credit portfolio. “This percentage has seen strong growth over the last three years and the trend must go on,” Gelin says.

Overall, BRD’s share of the credit market reaches 17%. “There are certain aspects that result in important particularities: we account for a medium segment of the real estate credit because we decided for a cautious strategy; at the same time we offer consumer loans in foreign currency only marginally. We, however, have a strong position on the segment of consumer credits in ROL,” Gelin stated.

He says this year should come with an overall market share improvement trend, as a result of the bank’s commercial promotion actions for various products and services.

BRD’s chief executive says it is hard to provide a global judgement of the market shares. “Every bank can embrace different policies for certain segments; after all, NBR’s statistics often lack sufficient detail in this regard,” Patrick Gelin says.

BRD last year saw a slight decline in terms of share of the total assets in the banking system. “I am not sure if assets make a good benchmark; their nature, distribution and actual worth should be analysed, too,” Gelin explains.

He believes structuring market shares by certain products and services is much more relevant.

“Of course the entry of new players on the market and the market share policy of certain banks impact on the distribution of assets among competitors,” BRD’s chief executive says.

The bank tends to constantly expand its coverage of potentially unexploited segments where demand for certain products and dedicated or more sophisticated services must be built from scratch.

“This year, BRD has entered two markets we deem as very important: private banking and youth market. Both have potential for the future for various reasons,” Gelin said.

BRD at the end of this spring opened an office that provides services to top clients who have special advisory and support needs to manage their money.

Gelin estimates the growth of the bank’s business will probably be registered on the individual customer segment, with lending expected to increase mainly, following the improvement in the people’s living standards.

razvan.voican@zf.ro