Volkswagen Bank avoids recession blues and rides high

Volkswagen Bank Polska (VWBP) plans to increase the value of its credit portfolio and virtual bank, which should in turn allow it to increase its net annual profit. After the first half of the year the bank recorded a zl. 10 million net profit, while for the whole of 2001 it posted a profit of zl. 17.9 million. "We are not feeling the recession. We will have 50,000 credit contracts by the end of the year, which means that our receivables will jump to zl. 1.2 billion," said VWBP president Grzegorz Tracz. Moreover, the bank has 17,700 customers using its virtual services and these boast average deposits of zl. 21,000. The banks' directors estimates that this number should increase to 21,000 customers, with total deposits of over zl. 500 million. "We do not conceal the fact that we target the wealthier sections of society,'" Tracz said. (Rzeczpospolita, p. B7) M.M