Consumer credit
Quote of the month
“The current financial crisis is expected to fundamentally transform consumer finance market and competitive landscape: stand-alone players leaving the battlefield and further consolidation to take place; re-focus on risk management and channel balance; new deal with POS owners to re-negociate balance of power; strengthening of hybrid business model and capability sharing between specialists and universal banks to secure funding; more product packages to cross-sell et customer base and protect margins”
Hendrik Bremer, Partner, Roland Berger Strategy Consultants
Overall issues
- Refinancing
The key players need to examine how they can build a new business model that takes into account the recent changes within the financial sector. This model needs to focus particularly on ways of refinancing current activities. - Risk management
Another topic that needs to be explored is the management of risk – how this should be developed and the tools that should be used. Improvements can be made in scoring techniques and in the collection procedures used to recover unpaid credit. - New approaches
Banks need to consider whether new technologies, services and products are the way forward for the consumer credit sector. The key players could learn from Turkey, which has already enjoyed success with Internet and mobile credit activities. Product innovation is another area that needs to be explored.
Efma studies
"Consumer finance in Europe - Back to reality", by Oliver Wyman and endorsed by Santander Consumer Finance (June 2008)
"Consumer credit in Central and Eastern Europe", by Roland Berger and endorsed by KBC, to be published next May 2009.
Lessons from the most recent conference
"Consumer credit – How to succeed in a tougher environment ", Istanbul on 5-6 March 2009
(www.efma.com/credit2009)
Best speaker:
Andre Bonfiglioli, Head of Eastern Europe at UniCredit Consumer Financing, Italy
Best presentations:
- “How to succeed in a tougher environment?”
Jean Coumaros, Head of Retail and Business Banking EMEA at Oliver Wyman, France
- “Developments in the European regulatory framework: fundamental changes in the consumer credit environment”
Alexandre Giraud, Advisor in Legal & Consumer Affairs at Eurofinas, Belgium
- “Consumer finance sailing in choppy waters”
Javier San Félix Garcia, Executive Director Area, Non Euro Markets at Santander Consumer Finance, Spain
Dedicated portal reserved for Efma members
Efma has developed a new portal devoted to household lending – consumer credit and real-estate loans – This all-in-one site brings together an exclusive range of headings enhanced by the expertise of contributors such as Global Insight. It has been specifically designed to meet the evolving needs of senior managers in household lending, seeking in-depth information and related services.
