LLC Commercial Bank ‘Credit Express’ is a banking institution actively participating in the interbank lending market and permanently making transactions under executed master agreements. The bank’s customer base includes about 4,000 customers represented inter alia by such major companies as Alutech, OJSC United Energy Construction Corporation, CJSC Sezam, CJSC Garmet, INKOM Corporation, etc. The bank is not among TOP 100 banking institutions of Russia, but it is an investment attractive one.

SKILLED HUMAN RESOURCES AS A KEY TO SUCCESS

The bank was founded in December 1994 as a closed joint-stock company and was subsequently transformed to Limited Liability Company Commercial Bank ‘Credit Express’. The bank’s Moscow Branch has been in operation since February 2005 года. The bank is a member of the deposit insurance scheme since March 2015.

«Today, the financial services market faces a rather tough competition, but we succeeded in retaining our own positions and even managed to move somewhat up in all sorts of rating ‘stairs’», told Alla Kabanova, a member of the bank’s board of directors, about the bank’s operation during the crisis. The average monthly amount of the bank’s freely investable funds totals RUB 10 to 12 billion. Since 2012 card holders can use a number of options, in particular, the HandyBank service, and also enjoy the same privileges as holders of bank cards issued by VTB Group. As regards balance sheet structure, 38.9% of the bank’s liabilities are constituted by retail deposits, 34.7% is composed of corporate funds with the bank’s own funds totaling 28.2% in its net assets.

The key criterion that defines Express Credit Bank’s investment attractiveness is growing own capital through the stable growth of profitability.  «If compared against 2011, all indicators of the banking institution have increased by times. These include own capital, profitability, total assets and customer account turnovers», said A. Kabanova.

This happened inter alia due to the fact that in 2011 the bank’s key owners changed and its team was refreshed. A new team comprised primarily of young and competent professionals joined the bank to replace leaving employees. «We place a specific focus on that because we want the company to dynamically develop and who else but young and active people can ensure such development for the bank?» described A. Kabanova the bank’s HR policy.

The bank successfully functions in this challenging crisis times thanks to its personalized approach to customers. HR competence is of the most critical importance. The «It’s all about the people» rule has never been cancelled.  Credit Express Bank also relies on it. The bank offers products that have been customized to a maximum extent and utilizes up-to-date banking technology. The bank has an untarnished reputation in the financial market. The bank features a high capital adequacy ratio of 24.45% (as at 01 October c.y.).

Credit Express Bank is closely linked to corporate business whose customers include many enterprises. The bank provides services to such construction companies as Hydroelectromontazh and Sezam constructing nuclear units of NPPs. There is a lot of trade and industrial enterprises among the bank’s customers. For example, the bank actively provides loans to Ruza Milk Trading House and communal farms that actively produce and sell high quality milk products, meat, vegetables, carry out agricultural activities, sell agricultural products, etc. When talking about customers, Helios Resource should be mentioned. The company produces silicon plates for solar batteries being the key component used to construct power plants.

The bank’s board of directors consists of five members with four of them being the bank’s shareholders: Anatoly Kozuirev, a rather prominent figure employed by a major oil company, Alla Kabanova, who is not only a member of the board of directors but concurrently holds the position of the manager of the Moscow Branch, Vladimir Shein, a chairman of the board of directors, who is a businessman dealing with security issues of enterprises operating in the Moscow Region, Tatyana Makarenko, a member of the board of directors and the bank’s depositor and Ilya Luiseonok, an independent director being a member of the bank’s board of directors. He is employed by a corporation that is comprised of a network of industrial and trading enterprises manufacturing and selling aluminium shaped and section gate systems and structures.

HOW TO SURVIVE CRISIS TIMES

It is not a secret that corporate customers are naturally more discerning when it comes to the quality of services as compared to retail customers. In this connection, the bank gives a very considerable weight to such factor as customer focus and this is where the company has definite competitive edges compared to its peers. «We have cooperated with all customers that receive our services a long while. We have been providing services to some companies for 20 years already. So, you must see yourself that we have studied the needs of such companies, perfectly know their CEOs and found a common language with them», noted A. Kabanova.

The bank features an extensive branch network with all offices, including a lending and cash services office based in Cherepovets, operating at a profit.

None of the branches divert money from the «center» with each of them featuring their own customer bases «in situ». They are also capable of paying salaries, office maintenance charges, etc. I.e. the existence of each point within the bank’s footprint is justified from a financial perspective. This is achieved inter alia through the optimization of the branch network with several loss-making cash offices having been closed. It is worth noting that despite the crisis, the bank had no personnel reductions. This is due to the fact that the number of the bank’s customers is increasingly growing, including thanks to referrals from the existing customers. The workload of each employee permanently increases so that this is not about personnel reductions any longer but about increasing the headcount.

Apart from interbank lending services and deposit opening in the national and foreign currencies, the bank offers money transfers via such payment systems as Unistream, Western Union and CyberPlat. Moreover, the bank offers – safety deposit box services to retail customers.

As to mobile internet banking, the ‘customer-bank’ system is constantly being improved both in terms of operational quality and security. The bank has a license issued by the Federal Security Service of Russia evidencing that Credit Express Bank’s cryptographic protection system meets the requirements of federal laws. «Of course, hacker attacks still happen, but they are all identified and blocked in a timely manner», told A. Kabanova. And, last but not least, new IT solutions are constantly being implemented to improve the operational efficiency of the bank’s remote banking system.

Credit Express Bank ended 2014 with more than 35 million rubles of profit. As to 2015, the bank has generated more than 45 million rubles in the nine months. Should this be compared year on year, presently (based on the nine months’ totals) the bank’s profits have exceeded the figure of 2014 by two times.  «Proceeding from the Bank of Russia’s requirements, we create loan provisions in amounts that correspond to the scale and scope of the bank’s activities. As at the current date, they total 150 million rubles. It is about 8.3% of outstanding loans», said A. Kabanova summarizing the bank’s performance.

2016 is expected to give rise to profit growth through the increasing of the loan portfolio. According to M. Kolmuikov, the bank’s CEO, the bank may increase its profits in the next year by 1,5 to 2 times. Also the banking institution’s plans are to increase its customer base and expand its branch network and product offer.

So, what is the secret of the success? Customer trust and team competence are the key to success. These are the major principles the bank is guided by.