After having aggressively entered the market of real estate project financing, Raiffeisen is preparing to launch a product through which it can release loans both to developers and their customers, with a view to speeding up the sale of housing complexes by boosting the number of potential buyers.
"This will be a financing product destined to real estate developers, which can be doubled from the very first day of the project by loans granted to customers interested in buying houses during the project phase. We can thus solve the problem of legislative setbacks, which do not allow us to accept mortgages on future goods," states Razvan Munteanu, vice-president of Raiffeisen's retail unit. He believes the incentive means customers who lack cash or are unable to access sufficiently large consumer loans will now have access to new projects right from the beginning.
"Partnerships with developers, and the guarantees we expect to receive, will allow us to finance customers for the real estate projects we are involved in on the side of developers. Purchasing prices will be more interesting given that houses are sold during the project phase and developers can make faster use of the money". The product will be launched onto the market during the middle of next month. This year, Raiffeisen set up a department specialising in integrated corporate-retail real estate projects. At the same time, Munteanu explains the bank intends to further expand its network specialising in mortgage retail.
"By yearend, we will have 14 distinct mortgage centres and 50 specially designated areas in the existing branches. We are also establishing a team of mobile specialised agents (...)"
Raiffeisen is accelerating the expansion of its overall territorial network, because it is lagging far behind its main direct rivals. In late September, the bank almost reached 370 branches, but Munteanu believes the bank will have more than 400 branches by January 2008. "(...) Next year, we'll reach way beyond 500 branches. We will still focus on urban areas, but we've already established ourselves in localities with 20,000 inhabitants," states Munteanu.
Raiffeisen does not intend to develop a branch network in villages on short term, but the bank is testing out alternatives involving mobile offices, in partnership with other providers of financial services.
Beside mortgage centres, the bank is also trying out other concepts for network specialisation, such as "investment centres" where customers can be advised on savings solutions.
Beside Bancpost, Raiffeisen is one of the few major retail banks that do not grant loans under their own norms, approved by the NBR.
Munteanu believes the bank will receive the green light from the NBR by the end of the year. He also says the bank's position on the retail segment will only be possible to truly assess in 3-4 years, when the market matures further, depending on the number of active customers choosing Raiffeisen as their main bank.
Raiffeisen
Is preparing to launch a product through which it can release loans both to developers and their customers, with a view to speeding up the sale of housing complexes by boosting the number of potential buyers.
The product will be launched onto the market during the middle of next month.
Intends to further expand its network specialising in mortgage retail.
Is accelerating the expansion of its overall territorial network
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