Loan brokers Kiwi Finance, with a turnover of some EUR 3.4 million in the first ten months of 2012, registered an increase of 18 percent in the number of clients so far this year, while the volume of loans mediated in the first 10 months was of EUR 35 million, according to the company.

"We believe we have achieved the main objectives of this year, namely increasing market share in retail banking and absorbing the effects of Regulation No. 24/2011 (which included some new lending rules, e.n). Based on our estimates we have a market share of 2.72 percent of new loans in total retail, excepting loans within the First House program. In the second half of the year we returned to the  volume of new loan applications seen last year," said Anca Bidian, CEO of Kiwi Finance.

Most banks active in Romania registered losses in 2012 and overall lending growth has stagnated in Romania in recent years, with the state-backed First House loans providing a breath of fresh air for local banks.

On foreign currency loans, 95 percent of the clients who accessed loans secured with mortgage in 2012 chose the euro as currency for their loan, while 98 percent of the customers with personal loans requested loans in the national currency.

Kiwi Finance was founded at the end of 2003 and has a chain of 31 branches and franchises in Romania. Kiwi Finance  has mediated loans worth about EUR 650 million to over 130,000 customers so far.

Ioana Toader, ioana.toader@romania-insider.com