Czech firm eyes China growth

When looking at the Chinese market, those people with average or below-average incomes "are not targeted customers of the banks," Skocil said. "Given the numbers, it's very natural to see many different needs. It's unlikely to think that one company could serve them all. So I believe having more competition in the market will bring more variety."

Rules relaxed for consumer finance companies

China's inflation up 2.4% in March

China recently issued guidelines calling for the expansion of a consumer finance company pilot program to more cities. It also urged further study of ways for private capital to set up consumer finance companies. The CBRC also added 10 cities to the pilot program that began in 2009.

"The establishment of such companies is ongoing," Skocil said, "I believe there is, based on the market, room for 15 to 20 national players in order to meet demand."

"If consumer finance is intended to support domestic growth, you need to do it in a controlled way and on a big scale." He noted that as some customers are already online, the company is preparing projects for an e-platform, and the projects should be ready to trial this year.

"In other markets such as the Czech market, we did add an e-platform ... But you want to be doing it step-by-step because once you are doing online transactions, you need to have the infrastructure as well," Skocil said.

"China is a reasonably big country, so you need to make sure that risk is under control. A small problem can become very big if you do not tackle it on time," Skocil said.

"The traditional channel - what we have been doing in the past few years - is still going to be the main direction for us, because there is huge space and still many people who need this service," Skocil added.

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