Cristian Dragos, the new head of GE Money, which grantsmortgage, consumer loans and leasing funding, expects loan interestrates to go down, but not very quickly, as default risks are stillhigh. GE Money, the retail-financing arm of US' General Electric,targets a 5-6% increase in the loan volume this year after loandemand plummeted in 2009. In late 2009, the three companies of thegroup, Domenia Credit, Ralfi and Motoractive Leasing, held630m-dollar assets, down from 2008, with loans granted accountingfor almost the entire sum. "For this year, plans are conservative,we've tried to be realistic. We want to boost loan volumes by 5-6%,but we are flexible and we're reassessing this quarterly plan. Wemay grow more or less than that," Dragos said. He expects thesegment of consumer loans, which the Americans grant through Ralfi,to be the first to rebound. He believes lending to SMEs is moreimportant than re-starting retail lending, as it is only in thisway that jobs can be created.
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