Azerbaijan, Baku, Sept. 20 / Trend, E. Aliyev /
VTB Bank (Azerbaijan) has plans to enter the retail consumer lending market, VTB Bank (Azerbaijan) chairman of board Alexander Eremin told Trend on Wednesday.
"Of course, we will present our solutions in this sphere in the future, which will meet the regulatory requirements of the Central Bank," he said. "As it is known, in February, the CBA issued a special order to limit the activity of banks through remote positions, that is, banks have actually lost the standard method of retail selling the products. The banks work worldwide this way because this is the most efficient way. Good service can be ensured if the client does not have anything to do or somewhere to go. A customer entered the store, wanted to buy something and the bank is near. We had a long talk with the CBA representatives, who explained that before making such a decision, international experience was examined. The Central Bank stands for more gradual and controlled growth."
According to the chairman of the bank, there are different ways of entering this market segment, one of which is to release the branded credit products.
"However, this method is uncontrolled," he said. "The banks that have introduced such products in Azerbaijan can not afford this, because they have sufficient human resources and long experience in this field, as well as an impressive statistic. Having a large database, one can calculate the expected percentage. If the bank is aware that according to its calculations, there is a seven percent delay in this segment, they will set the rate at ten percent and create comfortable conditions. We will also begin to do this. But at this stage with five branches and around 3,000 employees, it will not be very effective to release a product requiring significant investments without the advanced network and personnel."
VTB Bank (Azerbaijan) has been operating in the country since 2009 and is a subsidiary of OJSC VTB Bank. Some 51 per cent of its shares belong to JSC VTB Bank (Russia) and 49 per cent to AtaHolding. In the Russian banking market VTB Group holds second place in all major indicators.
Among the Russian banks, JSC VTB Bank has the highest rating from the international rating agencies Moody's Investors Service, Standard & Poor's and Fitch.