He Santander Group continues betting on Chile. Last week, through its subsidiary Consumer Finance, announced the purchase of the loan portfolio of the automotive finance company Credit World belonging to Penta Financiero, Algeciras, owned by businessman Eduardo Elberg and Fernán Gazmuri.
The operation will mean a disbursement that could reach up to US$ 79 million once the acquisition is closed.
The general manager of Santander Consumer Finance (SCF), Cristián Amar, responded in writing to DF what “Our medium-term objective is to lead the automotive financing market in Chile. With the acquisition of the Mundo Crédito portfolio we seek to expand the offer and participation in the automotive credit segment.”
According to data collected by Feller Rate, Santander Consumer is currently in second position in the industry – in terms of market share in loans – with 24.7%, at the end of the third quarter of 2023. The leadership is retains Forum -controlled by the BBVA Group- which has 45.2% of this business.
New brands
Amar highlighted that the acquisition of Mundo Crédito’s credit business, “It will allow us to incorporate the Citroën and DS brands in Chile as the first financing option.”
Currently, Santander Consumer has alliances through different automobile brands. During 2023, they managed to conclude 14 new commercial agreements to be the first financing option in more than 30 brands.
At the end of 2022, it had Mitsubishi with 3.6% market share; MG with 4.9%; Chrysler Group with 2.7% participation; Chery with 5.8%; SsangYong, 1.1%; Fiat with 0.5%; Alfa Romeo and Maserati with 0.04%. Other brands with lower participation are Ferrari and Infiniti. Within the financial company’s figures, they financed more than 45,000 new and used cars in 2023.
Asked about growth options and alliances, Amar stated that the company “is constantly searching for opportunities to consolidate leadership in the automotive financing industry.”
Along these lines, he assured that in addition to the portfolio purchase strategy, there are opportunities to grow organically in the automotive financing industry.
He gave as an example the segment associated with the sale of used vehicles, which in his opinion has great potential in “B2C” sales, which correspond to commercial transactions between companies, and “C2C”, a business model that aims to relate commercially to one user with another consumer.
Industry Outlook
Regarding the projections of the evolution of the automotive financial market, Amar commented that “We envision a year with new car sales similar to those of 2023. In January, the purchase of new vehicles contracted again in relation to last year, so the projection of maintaining the figures becomes complex, but achievable.”
He recalled that “the automotive financing market is closely related to the sale of new vehicles. However, we believe that The used vehicle business should increase to end the year with a slight increase.”
In the midst of an economic scenario of limited growth for 2024, Amar pointed out that the main challenges for the automotive financing industry are “maintain a healthy portfolio, with controlled risk, to maintain the value offer in the sector and thus continue strengthening the country’s mobility.”
2024-02-21 16:06:11
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