According to “Kommersant”, the issuance of guarantees by banks in the first half showed impressive positive dynamics of growth of 20%, to 6.5 trillion rubles In the previous year the business was stagnating, now on the background of the development of digital services in the conditions of isolation he was in demand. However, against the background of increasing competition, the growth rate of income from such activities will decrease.The issuance of Bank guarantees and sureties during the pandemic accelerated markedly. The growth in guarantee business in the second, “quarantine” quarter outpaced the beginning of the year. If the first quarter growth rate was at the level of 16-20% in the period of the pandemic, they rose to 23-27%. Thus in 2019, the business stagnated, with the exception of the last quarter, when growth was 5-13%. Some players during the half-year have shown strong growth in this segment — in particular, VTB, Alfa-Bank, ICD — 1.5–1.6 times, Raiffeisenbank, Gazprombank, Sovcombank, “FC Opening” — in 1,2–1,4 times.Warranty business generates for banks-though not the biggest, but stable part of Commission income, and it is one of the most low-risk segments. The main factors are increasing the demand for tools that reduce the risk at the conclusion of the contract between the supplier and the buyer, neodynamic nature of guarantee operations (the client does not need to borrow), noted in VTB. In addition, they say in the Bank, in connection with the pandemic, many businesses began to use guarantees as a security of obligations of the parties to postponement of the implementation of the projects.For example, in Sberbank the lion’s share of the guarantees transferred to online: results takes no more than three hours, the client is required two papers, explains the growth trend of the Vice-President of Bank Sergey Bessonov. According to him, the main engine of growth were guarantees within the framework of public procurement in five months, the Bank has recorded an increase in the number of public procurement by 20% compared to last year. Director of corporate business of the Bank “FC Opening” Andrey Karasev also notes the widespread use of a variety of products from low-risk guarantees of VAT reimbursement to structured guarantees in the infrastructure construction with the use of banking support of contracts and the mechanism of the escrow account.Guarantees in most cases provide greater profitability than lending, says the Director of Department for work with industrial enterprises ICD Alexander Afonin. Guarantee the business is profitable both from the point of view of fee income, and attract new customers, indicates senior Vice President of Sovcombank Vladislav Hmong. Subsequently, they can offer other products — RKO, salary projects, cuedit and stuff, he said. The warranty business is a success at the banks because it allows to obtain good Commission income, and its translation to a remote format saves costs, says senior managing Director of rating Agency NKR Alexander Proklov. In recent years, the direction of the warranty business for many has become an alternative to traditional lending — there is often below the threshold for market entry, and moderate risks, says the Director of group of ratings of financial institutions of an ACRE Valery Piven. However, as attractive and recapitalise business leads to increased competition that turns high revenue growth. According to “Expert RA”, Commission income on guarantees from 2017 steadily increases to 5% annually. However, in 2020, according to analysts of the Agency, in connection with the increased competition in this segment, the growth rate will drop to 3%.Olga Cherenkova
