A related group of Swedish company IKEA has started creation of Ikano Bank in Russia. The project will be implemented in the form of a joint venture c Credit Europe Bank, the Russian "daughter" which IKEA is working for more than three years. The new bank will initially serve corporate financial flows IKEA, and then, perhaps, will be engaged in lending and its customers.
The fact that the Ikano Group, which has common shareholders with the Swedish IKEA group, has begun registering a new bank in Russia, has become known from several sources close to the company. This project will be implemented as a joint venture between Ikano Group and Credit Europe Bank NV. The bank is being created on a parity basis, the corresponding documents for registering the bank with the Central Bank have already been submitted. The Russian representative office of Ikano "Ikano Finance" declined to comment, the Russian Credit Europe Bank confirmed the information on the creation of a joint venture, specifying that the authorized capital of the new bank will be 300 million rubles.
Ikano was originally part of the IKEA Group, but in 1988 it was separated into a separate group of companies. Specialization includes finance, insurance, asset management, real estate. Ikano's assets in 2010 amounted to about € 4,7 billion. In Russia, Ikano Finance, registered since 2006, is a developer of loan products for buyers of IKEA stores, which are sold on the basis of a partner bank - Credit Europe Bank.
The bank is expected to start its work with 2013 year. One of the possible candidates for the post of chairman of the board of the new bank is the head of Ikano Finance in Russia Henrik Jensen. "Initially, the bank will work with corporate clients, primarily with IKEA in Russia and its partners, and in two years - the time required to obtain the appropriate license - will start lending to customers in the stores of the network," one source said. "Ikano and Credit Europe Bank will continue to operate independently of each other in all of their other activities," Credit Europe Bank said in a press release. "Credit Europe Bank will continue to provide loans to IKEA clients, issue IKEA Family and Megacard credit cards."
"The creation of the bank on a parity basis will reduce the initial costs of the Swedish group on the development of banking products and use the successful experience of the Russian market Credit Europe Bank", - says Counsel of the Department of banking consulting consulting group "NEO Centre" Yulia Shirokova.
Source: Kommersant