Editor's note: Three years ago, President Xi Jinping launched China's ambitious Belt and Road Initiative, to link vast transcontinental swathes with a common economic thread. The initiative brought unprecedented opportunities to companies worldwide to expand their business and access new markets. China Daily will present a series of interviews with top executives of foreign companies, looking at the impact of the initiative on their operations as well as markets. Ondrej Frydrych, chief executive officer of Home Credit Group in China, tells how the international consumer finance provider will work closely with Chinese partners to further diversify their earning ability.

Home Credit Group, an international consumer finance provider based in the Czech Republic, will work closely with Chinese partners to add the number of loan products in Indonesia and India over the next five years to further diversify their earning ability, said its top executive.

Many of these opportunities come from the fast development of the Belt and Road Initiative with growing trade and investment volume, as well as these countries' increasing demand for consumption upgrade, foreign products, public services and flexible financing solutions.

Home Credit has formed a strong partnership with Dongguan-based Chinese smartphone manufacturer Oppo Electronics Corp to build a stronger presence in member countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, especially in Vietnam and the Philippines, to create new market growth points from the development of the Belt and Road Initiative.

Ondrej Frydrych, chief executive officer of Home Credit Group in China, said the company offers these countries consumer finance solutions which cover the entire process of loans, consumption, payment and credit system construction.

Unlike local dealerships or banks, Home Credit is able to offer customers in the region a smartphone backed by a zero percent interest loan.

According to statistics from oppo's overseas mobile phone sales department, about 40 percent of oppo mobile phones sold in Vietnam in 2015 were through consumer credit services provided by Home Credit.

Oppo's sales in Philippines also jumped to the second place in terms of market share from January to August 2016, with over 30 percent of sales of certain models coming from the consumer credit services provided by Home Credit.

"The collaboration is showing encouraging results, and these two modern trading routes have brought even more opportunities in those markets, and offered a platform where we could better integrate mutual resources," said Frydrych.

Home Credit achieved a robustly fast pace of growth in new loan volumes in Asian countries in the first half of 2016 - 109 percent in Vietnam, 164 percent in India, 321 percent in Indonesia and 466 percent in the Philippines.

Based on its experience in operating in Southeast Asia, Home Credit found that many local residents are still in great need of basic necessities.

"The mobile phone will remain a stable growth point in Southeast Asian markets, while products that meet daily life needs such as household electrical appliances, electric motorcycles and other durable consumer goods with high quality and relatively lower prices may have great market potential in the region," said Frydrych.

The East European company had over 15 million active customers by the end of June this year, with over two-thirds of them in Asia: 7.3 million in China, 1.3 million in Vietnam and 1 million in India.

"The collaboration between Home Credit and Chinese companies well supports the popularization of consumer finance, and facilitates to promote 'Made in China 2025' in global markets, enabling China to serve more foreign consumers while driving domestic industrial restructuring and upgrading," said Zhao Xian, a professor of international trade at the Central University of Finance and Economics in Beijing.

zhongnan@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily 11/16/2016 page13)