Commercial and Consumer Credit in Russia : A case study and comparative analysis of five international companies

Abstract: Consumer credit has become increasingly popular in Russia over the past few years. With the rapid growth of lending to individuals and companies, the need for accumulation of credit histories and information, collection services of bad debts, and credit insurance and financing also become of increased importance. It was found in this thesis that the larger credit limit given to corporate clients, the greater will the loss be if there is a default and the money cannot be collected. Giving credit to a small number of customers also increases the concentration of the risk. The opportunity to diversify in consumer credit is, however, limited because of the geo-graphic concentration of the customers, and the macro economic risk cannot be elimi-nated. Credit periods in consumer credit are in general longer, leading to higher uncertainty of payment and hence higher exposure to risk. Personal relationships are not established with customers in consumer credit, which are argued to act as “insurances” in corporate credit. Consumer credit is more common among international companies, leading to better offers and more flexibility in the service. Insurers of corporate credit have a restrictive policy with higher premiums and more administrative work, which is less attractive for companies to take on. Creditors also have to share the risk with insurance companies, often having to pay more than 15 percent of a default. With respect to what was mentioned above, it was concluded in this thesis that the risk of giving credit to individuals does not necessary have to be higher than that of corporate cli-ents, but that the terms of the contract is more favourable for the creditor in consumer credit.