OREANDA-NEWS. Collaborating with Russia’s best credit bureaus is a logical component of the Bank’s retail strategy. Uniastrum now works in partnership with three of the country’s top consumer reporting agencies: the National Bureau of Credit Histories, United Credit Bureau, and Equifax Credit Services

Uniastrum Bank has committed itself to an ambitious program geared toward carving a deeper niche in Russia’s consumer credit market. Since scaling up its retail operations in early 2012, the lender’s consumer credit portfolio has more than doubled to Rb 7.6 bn.

The sustained uptrend in Uniastrum’s retail sales is the result of careful strategic planning, systematic staff training, as well as the ongoing upgrade of banking solutions that has included, inter alia, the adoption of new borrower appraisal procedures. Thanks to its close cooperation with Russia’s leading credit bureaus, the Bank has been able to refine its credit approval process, making, in turn, for a more effective, better retail business.

By fusing its own borrower appraisal procedures with the solutions and strategies of consumer reporting agencies, Uniastrum is better placed than ever to evaluate concomitant risks when issuing retail loans, predict potential borrower behaviour, design new products for diverse target groups, deliver additional services or raise credit limits on current products, and deal more effectively with defaulted debt.

“Using credit reports and scores is a tried and tested filtering mechanism that helps banks assess borrowers, categorize them in terms of risk, and offer more reliable customers better terms,” explains Anna Eganova, Director of Uniastrum’s Retail Credit Underwriting Department. “Before long we also plan to introduce new antifraud systems, trigger programs and other solutions that will enable us to exercise tighter control over and upsize our credit portfolio.”