OREANDA-NEWS. The Russian subsidiary of Citibank is launching a mortgage crediting program. Observers say that the bank is striving to hold on to its corporate clients, which may refuse banking services because of the lack of retail credit products. Until now, the bank had only offered credit in the form of credit cards and consumer crediting.

The mortgage offered by Citibank is available for 7 to 30 years, with a minimum down payment of 20 percent. Credit in hard currency has an interest arte ranging from 9,5 to 12 percent, rubles credit has an interest rate of 12.25 to 15 percent. Citibank has confirmed its intentions of beginning a mortgage program, but said that the conditions have not yet been finalized. Citibank vice president Natalia Nikolaeva told Kommersant that the program would begin within the next few months.

Bankers say that the terms mentioned are not highly competitive. Binbank credit center director Dmitry Galkin commented that Citibank “will not enter the ten leading banks with those conditions”, although eh also noted that a 30-year mortgage is hard to find.

Others speculate that it is not Citibank's goal to become a mortgage leader. Rather, it is seeking to offer better services to its corporate clients. It has become known that Severstal is terminating its relationship with the bank. “Corporate clients need a full specter of retail services when they come to a bank,” commented Alfa Bank mortgage crediting development director Ilya Zibarev.