Russians Learn to Buy on Credit

By Douglas Busvine, Reuters

It’s Sunday lunchtime and shoppers in the IKEA furniture superstore in Khimki, a Moscow suburb, are lining up at the cafeteria after a hard morning at the mall.

There’s a queue too at the booth by the restaurant entrance, as the half-dozen staff of Delta Bank’s in-store sales team issue on-the-spot loans and credit cards — so that people can hit the retail trail again.

“It’s so easy and convenient,” said Adelaida Ilyina, a woman in her 40s smiling after a successful application. She paid for this shopping trip in cash — but next time it’ll be on credit.

Russia’s consumer finance boom has arrived, big time, and Delta Bank was one of the early entrants into a market which barely existed three years ago and is expected to double in size annually in the years ahead.

GE Consumer Finance bought Delta Bank last year in a deal worth $150 million to spearhead its thrust into Russia, which with China is a key growth target for the U.S. giant.

“A market with these many consumers will never open up again in our lifetime,” James B. Cook, chief executive of GE Consumer Finance in Russia, told Reuters.

For this complete story, please visit Russians Learn to Buy on Credit.