OREANDA-NEWS. June 29, 2012. Maria Zenina, Director of Sviaz-Bank’s Retail Banking Products Department, attended the round table on retail banking in Russia that was held at the press center of Argumenty i fakty newspaper in Moscow, reported the press-centre of Sviaz-Bank.

The round table participants discussed the current state of, and prospects for, the retail lending market that, according to figures provided by Pavel Medvedev, counsel to the Chairman of the Bank of Russia, had grown by over 40% in the six months of this year from the same period of last year, and keeps going up.

Speaking about the key trends in consumer credit, Maria Zenina said that customers now tend to pick up a bank on the basis of their experience of working with banks and turn to a lending institution that offers the best terms to borrowers.

“Customers are beginning to assess their own credit histories intelligently, and to make demands on the products a bank can offer them,” said Maria Zenina. Besides, borrowers give greater weight to extra products and benefits they can gain from a bank by becoming its customers for a long time period.

Another significant trend is making decisions to issue a loan within a shorter time. “The consumer credit market is speeding up. Three days is now the longest time a decision is made on a traditional consumer loan,” said Maria Zenina.

According to Maria Zenina, the future belongs to consumer loans having a definite purpose and targeting a small clientele. In broad terms, the market had shaped up and would develop in line with the borrower’s choice of purpose loan to meet his or her specific needs, was Maria Zenina’s concluding comment.