The lending growth is attracting new specialised players to the Romanian market. Following the Swedes at Credisson, it is now the turn of the Israelis at TBI - an investment fund, to launch a consumer finance company, TBI Credit.
"This is a worldwide trend that is now becoming manifest in Romania, as well. The Romanian market is still not put to use in terms of consumer credit," says Victor Caplescu, sales manager at TBI Credit, the newly established consumer finance company.
After having bought the main stake in insurance company Omniasig, TBI has established its own leasing company, TBI Leasing, to take advantage of the opportunity provided by this yet underdeveloped segment in Romania.
In fact, the fund's representatives were saying two years ago that they planned to own a bank on the Romanian market, whether if this meant buying it or actually building it from scratch.
TBI Credit is therefore entering an almost virgin market, i.e. the consumer finance market, more than half of which is controlled by the main player, Credisson, according to the latter's estimates. Credisson was established as a result of the leading Romanian electronics and home appliances retailer Flanco's decision to spin off its lending operations and was the first such company in Romania.
Besides Flanco, the company currently has partnerships concluded with furniture maker Elvila and two IT companies, Best Computers and Romsoft, the owner of the Depozitul de Calculatoare retail chain.
TBI Credit has not revealed the names of its partner companies yet. Its representatives, however, say 300 agreements with suppliers in various fields have already been concluded, with talks held to expand the portfolio.
"We are covering five product categories. Besides electronics, home appliances and computers, we have partnerships concluded with companies dealing in furniture, decorations or even tools and equipment," TBI Credit's official added. Victor Caplescu says TBI Credit is not a direct competitor of Credisson. "The service we will provide will be different from the already existing supply," Caplescu said, without going into details.
The consumer finance market in Romania is estimated at $250 million for this year, but is expected to boom in the next few years, following the development of other segments besides electronics and home appliances.
ionut.bonoiu@zf.ro
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