Uniastrum Bank Posts Record Profit This October

Moscow, Russia, December 15, 2012 --(PR.com)-- Uniastrum continues to forge ahead with developing its successful retail operations and financing small and mid-sized businesses. Over the past year, the share of retail and SME loans in the Bank’s total credit portfolio increased to 46%. Over the next three years, Uniastrum aims to boost this figure to 75%, pushing up retail loans to 50% and SME credits to 25%.

At present, the Bank’s consumer credit portfolio amounts to Rb 5.8 bn, up 75% year-on-year. Meantime, the number of personal loan issues has risen considerably; since the start of 2012 the lender has given out 3.5 times more consumer credit on the year-earlier period. In November alone, its disbursed Rb 800 mn in personal loans - a record figure in recent years.

At the same time, Uniastrum’s consumer credit portfolio has improved in quality, with defaults down 2% on the prior year. Thanks to the deployment of new automated decision-making and borrower-evaluation systems, anticipated losses on new personal loans issues are estimated at a mere 4-5%. In the past year interest income for this segment grew over 60%.

As well as extending and honing its lending operations, Uniastrum has also created a variety of new retail products, such as payment protection insurance and retirement insurance, which has resulted in a near-20% increase in the Bank’s commission earnings.

Since year-start 2012, Uniastrum’s small business credit portfolio has expanded 15%. Data released by Expert RA and RBC rating agencies show Uniastrum placing among Russia’s Top-10 SME lenders in H112.

“We made a conscious decision to focus heavily on promoting specific products over the next few years, i.e. consumer credit, cards, and SME finance,” notes Uniastrum President Gagik Zakaryan. “Developing these segments will be made all the easier, thanks to our extensive branch network, strong risk management team, and stat-of-the-art technology.”