UniCredit forecasts 18% growth in Russian retail lending in 2013; corporate lending up 13%
ISTANBUL. May 13 (Interfax) - Russian UniCredit Bank, part of Italian banking group UniCredit, forecasts retail lending to rise 18% in 2013.
"We forecast growth in retail lending in Russia at about the 18% level, significantly slower than in 2012," the chief of UniCredit's CEE division, Gianni Franco Papa, told journalists on the sidelines of the annual European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) congress in Istanbul.
"Last year's retail segment growth was mainly driven by local banks, not subsidiaries of international players," he said.
Papa did not comment on the bank's market share target for its loan portfolio.
Corporate lending is expected to increase 12%-13% this year, UniCredit chief strategist Aurelio Maccario told journalists, adding that UniCredit's growth in that segment is usually "a little slower than the market."
Launch of the bank's joint project with carmaker Renault-Nissan is scheduled for the fourth quarter of 2013, he said.
"We plan to commence operations in the fourth quarter of this year, after which UniCredit Bank will no longer offer loans to purchase cars with those makes," he said.
"I think it will operate under the name RCI Banque, which is what the French bank usually calls its subsidiaries abroad," he said.