Tulin, BCR Locuinte: We exceeded our five-month target

The savings and loan market, shared by two players on the Romanian market, BCR Locuinte and Raiffeisen Locuinte, will end 2008 with over 200,000 contracts, 53.000 of which were sealed by the BCR in July, when it entered this market. BCR Locuinte had been expecting since the summer to secure 50,000 clients this year. "The target has already been exceeded. We currently have around 53,000 clients in our portfolio. Next year, we will continue our growth," said Petre Tulin, president of BCR Locuinte, without specifying the number of clients expected in 2009. The average value of a savings and loan contract sealed with BCR Locuinte rose to 21,000 RON, from 15,000 RON a few months ago. "Next year, we expect the average value of contracts to stand at 23,200 RON," added Tulin. Less than 1% of Romania's population has concluded a savings and loan contract, in contrast to other countries, such as Austria and Germany, where the degree of penetration is of 50-60%. "I expect new players to enter this market, given its very high potential, banks focused on the retail segment, on savings products, which have an extensive territorial network, and have the necessary expertise on this segment," Tulin said.