IKEA will create in Russia own bank

IKEA Group of companies intends to create in Russia own bank, the newspaper Kommersant on Tuesday, May 31. The fact that a group of companies IKEA plans to create in Russia own bank, told the publication of several sources in the financial market. "With IKEA is going to set up a bank from scratch and prepare documents for registration in the Central Bank", - said a source familiar with the situation. IKEA originally planned to add to a group of bank and considered various options, including the purchase of a small foreign player to purchase a license, but did not find suitable options, continuing source of Kommersant. Source newspaper, close to IKEA, explained that the banking license will receive a joint legal entity, founded IKEA and Ikano Finans. IKEA - Swedish group of companies specializing in the manufacture and sale of furniture, working in some 40 countries. In the Russian market IKEA Group is represented in 2000 the retail chain IKEA (12 stores) and a network of "Mega" (10 shopping centers). Ikano originally included in the IKEA Group, but in 1988 became a separate group of companies. In specialization Ikano includes such areas of business such as finance, insurance, asset management, real estate. In Russia, Ikano Finans registered since 2006, is a developer of credit products for customers shop IKEA. As a banking license "Ikano Finans has no credit products in IKEA stores sold on the basis of partner banks - Credit Europe Bank. Market participants estimate the penetration of credit in the network IKEA (the proportion of goods sold on credit) at 5%. Request Kommersant at IKEA plans to build their own credit organizations in Russia has been diverted in the Ikano Finans, which did not deny that such a possibility is considered. "" Ikano Finans is considering various options, including the possibility of registering a Russian bank, but at this stage we have not filed any documents for the registration of the bank ", - said the managing director of Ikano Finans" in Russia, Henrik Jensen. For the group of companies with different types of business, which is IKEA, to create its own credit institution justified step, allowing to save on services of banks, brokers, these experts interviewed by the publication. "IKEA has several different types of business for such a structure is the presence of his own bank - this is an opportunity to consolidate the financial flows among all levels of the group - said the head of the Advisory Group on Financial Markets Ernst & Young Oleg Danilin .- Work through foreign banks increases the cost of the group and how Consequently, the prices of the products for consumers and loan rates for borrowers and reduces their competitiveness. " According to experts, the creation of his own bank will allow IKEA to reduce total costs by about 2%. "While the establishment of a bank from scratch requires considerable investment, which can amount to tens of millions of dollars, such a large group, like IKEA, can afford it, especially given its international experience in financial services, proving the effectiveness of this approach" - indicates the vice- President of the Bank "Renaissance Credit" Nicholas Teplyakov. According to Oleg Danilin, creating their own financial institutions - a common practice used by large producers and distributors throughout the world, in Russia the first to implement such practices and to create a captive banks have major carmakers BMW, Mercedes, Toyota, Volkswagen and others IKEA goes on to same way, and it is possible that we will soon see the emergence of their own banks and other major foreign groups ", - the expert adds.