Cetelem targets 15-20% of the credit card market

Cetelem currently has 593 partners countrywide, including store chains. In 2005, the company had a mere 15 partners. The number of offices also grew to 1,810 in 2007 from 250 in 2005.

Cetelem Deputy General Manager Daniel Boaje said one of the company’s goals for the next three years is to gain 15-20 percent of the credit card market.

The company launched its consumer loans five months ago and since then it has granted RON 18 million (€5.5 million) of such credits. Until now, this type of loan was exclusively designed for clients in the company’s database, but it will be available to the general public as of June 2007.

Also next month, Cetelem will launch a car loan granted at the place of purchase. The company is negotiating a partnership with several car dealers for this new financial product. Cetelem targets some 1,000 car loans this year. The company also plans to increase the loan balance up to RON 800 million (€244.61 million) in 2007, a 74 percent year-on-year increase. In 2006, Cetelem granted loans worth 460 million lei (€140.65 million), up 140 percent from 2005. 

Credit cards
The French group introduced its 40 year-old traditional product to through Cetelem: a card called “Cardulescu”. Since last year, Cetelem also issued the co-branded Flanco-Cetelem card. By the end of April, Cetelem issued 148,000 cards, compared to 100,000 cards issued by 2006. The number of transactions also rose to 440,000 in April, from 148,000, in December 2006.