Loans arranged by brokers currently account for below 5% of the overall volume of retail loans released by banks, but their weight is likely to rise 3-4 times within 5 years.
"The credit brokerage market is likely to account for 15-20% of the total volume of loans released by banks," believes Anca Bidian, CEO at Gemini Capital Consult, the biggest player on the market. This year, Gemini forecast to release loans worth 130m euros, but reached 120m euros after the first 10 months. The company was taken over this summer by investment fund Oresa Ventures in a deal worth 3m euros.
While over 100 banking brokerage firms operate on the market, there is no official data at present concerning the volume of loans handled by brokers, due to the lack of a special ruling framework for this activity.
Most players are small, with a local or regional presence. The lack of some large players considerably hinders market development, as bankers have to sign several partnerships to collaborate with brokers across Romania.
Brokers expand either through their own forces, or by selling franchises. Gemini operates with a national network of around 100 financial consultants with units in six cities.
DBSol, another player that witnessed sustained growth, has 12 franchises and two of its own units. In addition, Credit Team owns one of the largest territorial networks and is present in 22 counties with 30 subsidiaries.
It recently signed the first franchise contract outside Romania, in the Republic of Moldova.
Brokers' expansion abroad is primarily motivated by the high potential of communities of Romanians working in Italy or Spain.
Banking brokerage, in its early stages of development domestically, is held back by the lack of a legislative framework, with credit brokers currently operating on the basis of legislation regulating the activity of commercial companies.
The creation of an association or union of credit brokers would be the first step towards the official recognition of this profession and implicitly towards the drawing up of some norms that regulate credit brokerage activities.
"The misapprehension of competition conditions and personal pride are preventing the creation of such a body that would be highly beneficial both for us, and for our customers," believes Liviu Andrei, CEO at DBSol Consulting.
"There should be stricter norms limiting the access of firms on the market as there are firms harming the image of banking brokerage," says Roxana Gavrila, development manager at Credit Team.
An association of credit brokers would primarily act as a "spokesperson", believes Martin Stobbs, Creditlink general manager.
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