BCR: Banks Need To Go Deeper Into Personalized Pricing To Revive Retail Line

06.15.2011 By Ciprian Botea

Competition on the retail segment is tightening as consumer sentiment improves and banks need to better divide their clients into segments and slash costs to be able to gain new business, believes Sorin Mititelu, retail products and services development executive with Banca Comerciala Romana (BCR), the largest domestic bank in terms of assets.

The BCR official said banks need to secure new business as the product distribution and promotion network cannot be supported by revenues generated from existing clients.

He added that basic segmentation will include three categories: mass clients, mass affluent clients and those who only want a simplified relationship with banks.

Mititelu said that though retail is no longer the star of the financial market, this segment still has a very high growth potential as just half of the active population works with a bank and a lot of clients only have a current account or a loan.

"Retail is no longer the star of the financial market, but still has a significant growth potential," Mititelu said. "This segment can only grow through client segmentation and in the future we will be seeing more and more often different prices and products for different clients," he added.

He also said that the improving consumer sentiment and income stabilization is already showing on the retail market, with leu-denominated consumer lending having increased slightly in recent months.