MOSCOW, October 30, 2013 /PRNewswire/ --

TRUST Bank (TRUST), the Russian bank whose products are advertised by the "Die Hard" star Bruce Willis, has become Russia's fastest growing bank in terms of total loans issued on banking cards in the first half of 2013. The bank's card portfolio grew 175% since July 2012, outpacing Alpha Bank's 121% growth rate.

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According to a survey of consumer lending in Russia prepared by the ratings agency Expert RA this July 2013, TRUST is in 8th place by size of its banking card loan portfolio and is the leader in terms of card portfolio growth rate among the largest market participants (+175%).

    Place by        Name of Bank             Amount of total loans        Growth rate
    portfolio                             issued on banking cards,   01.07.2013/01.07.2012
    size as of                                     RUB mln                                                
    01.07.2013                       01.07.2013  01.01.2013  01.07.2012
    1       OJSC Sberbank of Russia    202,567     154,444     101,617       99%
    2       TKS Bank (CJSC)            64,292      48,000      33,603        91%
    3       OJSC Alpha-Bank            46,879      34,451      21,194       121%
    4       OJSC UBRiR                 41,520      34,404      23,832        74%
    5       OJSC CB Eastern            40,458      46,630      36,868        10%
    6       Svyaznoy Bank (CJSC)       37,749      35,712      26,140        44%
    7       LLC HCF Bank               32,630      23,731      18,029        81%
    8       OJSC NB TRUST              16,853      10,754       6,118       175%
    9       CJSC Raiffeisenbank         9,663       7,629       5,740        68%
    10      OJSC Bank Uralsib           8,625       6,688       4,935        75%

This is a clear indicator that interest in banking cards is growing on the financial market, a segment that TRUST has put as a key focus for its operations: "We place the highest priority on our credit card business and our plans to expand our card portfolio to RUB 20 bln by 2014. In the last 1.5-2 years we have actively expanded our portfolio of POS-loans, and now we are supporting it at that level but do not aim for higher growth rates," commented Bank TRUST Chairman of the Management Board, Fedor Pospelov.  

Bank TRUST is in fourth place by POS-loan portfolio size, with a growth rate of 39% over the previous year (01.07.2012 - 01.07.2013). As experts have noted, the issuance of POS-loans is decreasing on the market as a whole.

Source: Expert RA, results of surveys of banks

The report shows that TRUST is one of the top 10 Russian banks by portfolio size of unsecured loans to private clients. According to analysts, from July 2012 to July 2013 the consumer lending market grew by 38%. The portfolio of unsecured loans to individuals as of the beginning of July 2013 was RUB 5.5 tln.  

* The conclusions of Expert RA analysts are based on public information, Bank of Russia statistics, and the results of surveys of banks and in-depth interviews with market participants. In this report, consumer lending  is understood as unsecured cash loans, unsecured loans issued at retail locations (POS-lending), and lending via banking cards (credit cards, debit-credit cards, debit cards with overdraft).    

National Bank TRUST

TRUST Bank offers a full range of retail banking services to corporate, SME and retail customers across Russia. It has 253 branches in 166 cities, from Kaliningrad to Vladivostok and is among the top 20 Russian banks in terms of deposit and retail credit portfolios. In August 2012 the RusRating rating agency confirmed TRUST's A- rating, with a stable forecast. It is the 3^rd most recognized retail banking brand in Russia according to research carried out by Market UP in April 2012.

SOURCE National Bank TRUST