BRD: Only Promotions Keep Retail Banking In Motion

05.27.2011 ZF English

Lending demand is still frail, as clients are still coping with uncertainty in terms of their income and jobs, and just the promotional campaigns manage to boost sales, says Adrian Jantea, retail promotion and distribution manager with BRD, the second largest bank in Romania.

"A certain thaw-up can be noticed, but it's still tentative. Hopes are related to the fact that we are quite frequently launching new products and services, which we promote for certain periods of time," Jantea said.

BRD currently has two loan campaigns underway. The first one, launched in April, is linked to refinancing loans and has been recently extended until mid-June amid satisfying results.

As a matter of fact, most top banks have such campaigns in progress, promoting refinancing loans, as this seems to be the only market segment that is working.

"Even banks are working, we can say, in sales. Promotions are, together with other mechanisms, a sales growth driver," Jantea believes.

The bank has also recently launched a new mortgage loan type, which requires only 10% downpayment compared with the 15%-20% required before, after having secured the central bank's approval.