Cetelem Russia plans to distribute the Cetelem product range over the entire Russian territory. Business has commenced simultaneously in five major cities, namely Moscow, St Petersburg, Yekaterinburg, Krasnodar and Nijni Novgorod, and will spread to a further five cities by the end of the year. Products will be marketed in commercial partners’ points of sales, such as retailers, car dealers and manufacturers, and will be completed by direct-to-customer credit sales.
The assets of Cetelem Russia are based on the implementation of the Cetelem business model with its marketing, risk and scoring tools, which have proven successful in more than 20 countries throughout the world.
The Russian consumer finance market represents a promising market for Cetelem to capitalize on. Philippe Delpal, Cetelm Russia’s CEO, said: Regular growth in GDP, strong increase of consumption, driven by the rapid improvement of the population’s living standards, a reasonably low unemployment rate and relative political stability, represent solid foundations for the consumer finance market, which has been making headway since 2002.
Francois Villeroy de Galhau, CEO of Cetelem, commented: Our deployment in Russia is completely in line with our strategy of international development in high-growth countries, just as our recent acquisition in Brazil. Our ambitions concerning Cetelem Russia are extremely high for the next three years and we plan to be among the top five on the market, while maintaining satisfactory levels in terms of profitability and risk management.
