OREANDA-NEWS. December 18, 2009. During October and November, the Bank issued Rb 6.5 bn in corporate loans, or 30% of overall credits extended to this segment in FY09, reported the press-centre of Uniastrum.

Uniastrum’s latest financial results show that as of December 1, 2009 the Bank’s overall corporate credit portfolio totaled Rb 32.3 bn, up 50% YTD.

As of December 1, 2009, Uniastrum’s large and midsized business loan portfolio tipped the scales at Rb 28.1 bn, with Rb 18.7 bn falling to Moscow, the remaining Rb 9.4 bn to the regions. Meantime, the Bank’s small business loan portfolio topped Rb 4.1 bn. Total corporate credits issued over 11M09 came to Rb 26.3 bn, with Rb 14.5 bn falling to Moscow, the remaining Rb 11.8 bn to the regions.

Total loans to large and midsized businesses equaled Rb 23.1 bn, while those to small businesses amounted to Rb 3.2 bn. In the opinion of Uniastrum Bank analysts, this September marked the start of sustained growth in demand for business loans, resulting in healthy incremental growth for the lender’s credit portfolio. As of year-start 2009, Uniastrum’s overall corporate client portfolio weighed in at Rb 21.8 bn, an upturn of around 50%, with loans to midsized business amounting to Rb 19.7 bn (up 43%), and those to small business equaling Rb 2.1 bn (up 100%).

Particularly popular among Uniastrum’s corporate clients is the Bank’s U-Super Prime lending option, whose most attractive feature is its market-beating interest rates, which start from 13.7% APR for ruble-denominated credits and from 10.7% APR for loans issued in foreign currency. The minimum loan amount is Rb 100 mn or US3 mn (or the Euro equivalent). Over 2009 Uniastrum devised and offered its corporate clients over 10 new credit products specially tailored to take account of the realities of the changing economic landscape and new business trends. Today, for example, small businesses are showing a marked preference for the Bank’s U-Prime loan scheme, which enables them to take out between Rb 5 mn and Rb 20 bn for up to 10 years depending on the loan purpose at interest rates upwards of 17.7% APR, or 14% APR in the case of foreign-currency credits.

“Uniastrum Bank is adhering strictly to its avowed rollout strategy and steadily and surely expanding its credit portfolio,” says Pavel Neumyvakin, Chairman of Uniastrum’s Management Board. “All the plans we mapped out late last year for 2009 have already been successfully implemented. Going forward, we aim to push ahead with business expansion at an even faster pace. As for the specific results of those plans – that’s something we’ll be announcing early in 2010.”