New era in paying debt starts with Cardif
Posted by meb at April 9th, 2008
Cardif, the world’s leading unemployment, credit card and personal loan protection products provider, has begun operations in Turkey.
The firm, a subsidiary of Banque Nationale de Paris (BNP) Paribas Assurance, which is the France-based BNP Paribas International Banking‘s assurance arm, aims to provide payment protection for credit card and personal loan debts of individuals.
“We aspire to take the entire risk in personal loan and credit card payments in Turkey. We aim to launch a new era via introducing the payment protection products to the Turkish market,” said Yılmaz Yıldız, chief executive officer (CEO) of Cardif Turkey. “The usage volume of personal loan and credit card rose from $3 billion to $68.5 billion within five years in Turkey. Cardif sees a great potential in this market. We began to operate in Turkey with 100 percent BNP capital, which shows BNP’s confidence in the Turkish market,” Yıldız said at a press conference in Istanbul yesterday.
There are about 35 million individuals in Turkey holding credit cards and using personal loans, he said, adding that the unpaid credit-debt volume is increasing rapidly. “We plan to contribute to the stability of the finance sector as well as assuring the payment capacities of personal loan and credit card holders,” said Yıldız.
Payment protection
“We aim to provide payment protection for individuals when they become unemployed or are unable to work in situations out of their control, such as critical diseases, dismissals or temporary disability. We pay the bills, rents, credit card and personal loan debts of these individuals within the scope of our wide range of products,” said Yıldız.
“The [payment protection] sector will grow to $1 billion within a couple of years. We expect to have a 50 percent market share in vehicle loans, 30 percent in mortgage credits and 30 percent in credit cards in payment protection by the middle of the year,” Yıldız added.
Cardif, the subsidiary of BNP Paribas, which acquired 50 percent of the shares of the Turkish Economy Bank (TEB) in 2005, agreed with Koç Finans from Koç Group and Volkswagen Turkey from Doğuş Group to cooperate in payment protection. The company is still in talks with four major banks of Turkey. Cardiff, which has 45 million clients in 42 countries, collected premiums worth $28 billion last year.
Cardif is among the world’s top five finance companies in grading terms with an AA+ rating from Standard&Poors.
Source: Turkish Daily News
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