Auto-banks see increase in value of car loans market

Last year "auto-banks" (banks specializing in financing new car sales) recorded an increase of over 22% in the value of loans granted and signed deals worth zl. 1.6 billion - a surprising result given that the number of new cars sold dropped by almost 6%. "The reason is the fall in the number of people who can afford to buy a car on their own resources. Auto-banks push traditional banks off the market. Car concerns have to constantly widen their financial product portfolio to keep their customers," explained Marek Swieton from ING Investment Management Polska. The market leader in loan value terms remained Volkswagen Bank Polska, which increased the value of granted loans by 20%. Volkswagen is chasing the leader in terms of number of contracts signed, FIAT Bank Polska, which was the only company to record a drop in 2002 in both the number of agreements and their value (both 11%). (Puls Biznesu, pp. 1, 6) M.M.